


Women of the Resistance

by peldarjoi



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bajoran Culture, Bajoran resistance, Bajorans, Cardassians, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Occupation of Bajor, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:55:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28679991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peldarjoi/pseuds/peldarjoi
Summary: A collection of stories about the brave and passionate women in the Bajoran Resistance.Veya: "Never again would she hesitate to kill one of them. Never again would she feel remorse or question whether it was right... She would hate them with every piece of her being, with her every breath and every thought."
Kudos: 5





	1. Veya, Part 1

"She's nothing but trouble." The Cardassian woman, Zirla, said, shoving eleven-year-old Veya toward a harsh-looking Bajoran man. 

"Bajoran children often are." He glanced indifferently at her. "I'm sure she'll learn to behave here." 

She'd done _nothing_ wrong. Only questioned what right the Cardassians had to tell them what to do on their own world. For that, and maybe a few other similar questions, she got yanked out of Ma'am Zirla's orphanage to this one. 

The man took her firmly by the arm and led her to a hall at the back of the entry room. "Go on to the last doorway back there and find a bed while I finish up with Ma'am Zirla." 

Veya started down the hall, hugging her bundle to her chest. It was everything she owned: a set of night clothes and one change of day clothes hastily wrapped in her thrice-handed-down winter jacket. 

She reached the door and hesitated only a moment before she pressed the key to open it. She learned quickly that disobedience was not tolerated at these places, so she didn't dare dawdle after having been giving a direct command. 

The door slid open to reveal a noisy room so tightly packed with cots that there was barely room to walk between them. All of the cots had disheveled bedding on them and children ranging from maybe three- or four-years-old up to fourteen-years-old sat around the room quietly by themselves or in raucous groups. 

At first, she didn't see any empty beds, but then she spotted one all the way in the back. As she made her way through the room, conversations stopped and hushed whispers started. 

One not-so-quiet comment reached her, "Less food for the rest of us." 

She didn't dare look up hoping for a friendly face, she knew there wouldn't be any. These places were all the same. The government paid the proprietor a small grant for each child they took in. But there was no requirement that the money was spent on the children. Most of the time, they saw no benefit at all. Instead, the children were left to compete over the little that was provided while the proprietor pocketed the rest of the money. The first home she'd been sent to, she had called the man a collaborator and that was the end of her stay _there_. 

When she finally made her way through the sea of hostility to reach the last empty bed, she sat on it silently, not even setting down her belongings. Just sat while the others eventually resumed whatever they had been doing before she came in. 

*** 

She'd arrived after dinner, she had to sleep hungry. There was no bedding on her cot, so she covered herself with her jacket and used her clothes as a pillow. That was okay, though, because she was a little afraid of letting her belongings out of her sight. 

Morning arrived and the children filed out for breakfast, which was a runny cooked grain that looked like it was more water than grain. The portion was small, too, she would be hungry long before dinner. 

When she turned away from the serving counter to find a seat, she found there were no empty tables. She quickly looked over the empty seats scattered throughout the room. She approached one of them and one of the boys there quickly put his feet on it with a look that clearly said _not here_. 

Anxiously scanning the rest of the room, she searched for another option, but it was obvious she wasn't welcome at any of them. Would she have to stand in the corner to eat? 

Finally, she spotted a group of girls her age that looked like they might be nice enough, so she went to their table and sat down cautiously. The girls stopped talking, but didn't tell her to leave, then continued like she wasn't there. That was the best she could have expected. 

*** 

Veya spent the rest of the day alone. Alone in the sleeping room. Alone when shooed outside. She sat on the rusty, rickety play equipment. She glanced through the collection of dirty and broken toys, but found nothing suitable for a solo game. 

There was no schooling. Cardassians considered orphans less than worthless, a drain on the resources of legitimate society and therefore there was no point in educating them. For most of the children here, that policy was abundantly obvious. She desperately missed school. Her family, too, but couldn't bear to think of them. 

Dinner wasn't any better than breakfast, just a thin soup and a piece of bread. She sat with the same group of girls, but 'with' was only a matter of proximity, she wasn't really _with_ them. She ate her dinner and slunk back to her bed in silence. Still no bedding. 

Two more days passed the same way, but she did finally get a pillow and a blanket as well as a crate to put her clothes in. 

Then she was in line for dinner again. Tonight's selection was a loaf that looked like it had some kind of edible-but-not-exactly-food filler in it. 

She tried sitting with the girls again. 

"No one said you could sit here." One girl, Ebe, snipped at her just before she set her plate down. 

Veya froze with a lump forming in her throat. 

One of the other girls, Iri confirmed Ebe's statement with her eyes. 

Heat flushed up her shoulders and neck straight to her cheeks. She didn't expect to be friends or for them to let her into their group, but she had to sit _somewhere_. And the seats were quickly filling up. Everywhere she looked were unwelcoming faces. 

She blinked back the burning behind her eyes and chose a table with only one boy at it. He glared at her, so she sat sideways to show him she wasn't really sitting with him. 

She made it through the meal and it did taste like it had been bulked up with something like paper pulp. 

How could she get through day after day of this? Her life until she was of-age stretched out before her like a daunting thing. She hadn't been exactly popular in the other homes, but at least there had been some children that hadn't been hostile. 

Each day loomed ahead like a prison sentence. 

*** 

Longing for someplace to cry in private, she hurried back to the room, but she had barely sat down on her cot when one of the older boys, Yarvu, came in. He was popular, usually having a retinue of buddies with him. But this time, he was alone. 

She steeled herself. She didn't want to talk to anybody, but he was coming directly to her. 

Her mind scrambled for some way to avoid him, but the outer doors were closed and locked for the night. The only other place to go was back to the dining room. 

She couldn't bring herself to look at him as he sat on the cot across from her, so close that their knees touched. 

"Ebe and the others aren't worth your time." He said gently. 

A weight slid off her shoulders at the kind words, so much that she felt almost physically lighter. 

"You need to make friends with someone the others look up to and they'll fall in line." 

She almost smiled up at him, but then he reached across and placed his hand too-high-up on her thigh. Her hope crumbled at the realization of what he meant. Her skin prickled with a rush of panic. She raised her eyes to meet his. His look had become predatory. 

But before she could think of what to do, some other children came noisily into the room. 

She took the momentary distraction and scooted away from him, drawing her legs up onto her bed, out of his reach. 

Unconcerned, he glanced at them, then back at her, standing, "There's no one here that will help you unless you help yourself." He said, sounding much like a threat, and walked away to join the others. 

She rubbed at the spot on her leg where he had touched her, trying to make the feeling of his hand go away. There was no stopping the tears this time. 

*** 

Veya did everything she could to avoid being alone with Yarvu again, even if it meant spending more time with the others. But she could feel him watching her, waiting for a chance to strike again. 

Her luck ran out one day when Berada decided the tall block wall that ran the perimeter of the property needed to be scrubbed at the end of winter. 

He probably had an inspection coming up and would make them clean the whole place. She'd seen a whopping _two_ of these inspections in the five years she'd been in the system. What a joke. But she didn't dare disobey and risk time in the isolation room, essentially a walk-in closet with a cot in it. She wouldn't mind some time alone, except that anyone sent to that room also missed meals. 

She was assigned to a narrow passage at the far side of the building where no one ever went unless someone needed to do maintenance on the heating system. She didn't mind the location or the work or even the harsh smell of the cleaning chemicals, as long as she was alone. But the skin on her neck prickled at the sound of approaching footsteps, she had a bad feeling she knew who it would be. 

Plunging the scrub brush into the bucket to try to focus on her work, she saw Yarvu saunter around the corner. Not doing his assigned work, as usual. 

She kept working, begging silently for him to just go away or for someone else to happen by. 

"Haven't had a chance to finish our talk." He began, coming up right behind her. 

She scrubbed furiously at the wall as if she could simply ignore him. The green residue that grew on everything in this climate mixed with the cleaning solution and dribbled down to her elbow as she worked. 

His hands landed on her hips and she forced herself not to flinch even as her heart raced. 

She nudged him away with her shoulder, but he didn't let go of her. 

Breathing hotly in her ear, he slid his hands past her waistband into her pants. 

Finally, she lashed out with her elbow, jabbing him hard in the stomach, then turned and shoved him away from her. 

His back hit the wall of the maintenance shed with an audible exhale, but he looked up smiling wickedly. "Careful, you know what happens if you start a fight." 

She shrunk back from her aggressive pose. He was right, she could get thrown in the isolation room. 

Sensing her backing down, he pushed himself away from the wall confidently and stepped toward her again. He'd been right before, there was no one that would help her. 

He hesitated at the sound of footsteps approaching, pausing long enough to see that it was Saiel. Not one of his trusted gang. 

The other boy started cleaning a section at the other end of the wall, ignoring them, but Yarvu decided not to risk it and ambled away with one last chilling glance back at Veya. 

Letting out a shaking breath, she went back to her work, not trusting Saiel any more than Yarvu, but at least grateful the two boys didn't trust each other. 

*** 

It was Iri's _ih'tanu_. By tradition, she was an adult. Fourteen was nowhere near self-sufficient, but that still marked the end of her time at the home. She was free, or abandoned, depending on how one looked at it. No one thought too hard about what would come next for her or what they would do when their time came. Tradition said it was a time to celebrate, so that's what they did. 

Berada made them clean up, loaned them fancy clothes that were only used for these occasions and provided slightly nicer food than usual. He'd already made the final pronouncement of Iri's new status as a supposed adult and the party had lulled. 

Veya stood in the corner while the others celebrated Iri's fourteenth birthday. She couldn't shake the feeling of dread at her own _ih'tanu_ looming just a few years off. It would mean freedom from this awful place, but she didn't know how she would make it out there, hating to even consider what many of her peers before her had had to do to survive. 

She already seemed to be heading down that path, she realized with a chill as she tried not to look at Yarvu across the room. He took every opportunity to separate her from the group, to trap her in a corner or pin her against the wall. She didn't dare fight back. He knew how to play the game. As far as Berada was concerned, he could do no wrong. 

He had only ever touched her. She comforted herself with that, at least. But it was thin comfort. She never knew if or when he would go further. 

She couldn't stand to look at him, but always remained aware of where he was and what he was doing. As often was the case, he was surrounded by his usual retinue who, she'd come to realize, were not his friends, they were just as afraid of him as she was. 

At the other side of the room, she saw Berada take Iri by the elbow and guide her quietly away. He cracked the door open just wide enough for the two of them to slip through and for a brief moment, Veya caught sight of the main entry room and she stopped cold at what she saw there. 

A uniformed Cardassian waited there for Iri. 

A cold shock shot through her while heat flushed her cheeks like her body didn't know how to react to what she saw. What it meant for Iri. What it meant for Veya and all the other girls. 

She hurriedly glanced around. No one had seen what she saw. 

The door quickly closed her off so that she didn't see what happened next, but there was little doubt. 

*** 

She'd been under Yarvu's frequent attentions for so long that Veya didn't even try to fight back any more and it was too exhausting to try to avoid him. She hated to think she'd given up, but she had. 

This time, he caught her in the dim hallway between the dining room and the sleeping quarters when they were the last to head to dinner. His oppressively musky body scent surrounded her. She knew it would cling to her after, reminding her for hours of what happened. 

All she could do was turn away and wait for it to be over. She squeezed her eyes shut as he dug into her clothes and she squirmed desperately as he sunk his hand deeper. 

Reaching. 

Exploring. 

"What's going on here?" A sudden voice barked. It was Berada. 

Yarvu immediately pulled back and rushed away to the sleeping quarters. 

Veya froze in pace with her back to the wall. Shame flushed her cheeks with heat. But instead of going after Yarvu, Berada grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him. 

"I knew from the start you were trouble!" He hissed. "I took you into my home anyway and you repay my generosity by corrupting the other children?" 

She scrambled for a response, but could only gape in confusion. She knew he didn't care, but hadn't he seen what had been going on right in front of him all these years? 

Not waiting a moment longer, he yanked her down the hall, back the way he'd come. Toward the isolation room, she realized with panic. She tried to struggle, but he had a vice-like grip on her arm and was pulling her so fast that she could barely keep her footing. 

Reaching the door to the dreaded punishment room, he jerked it open and shoved her inside so hard she tumbled backward onto the cot. 

"You think about what proper community behavior means and beg the Prophets to forgive you for your actions while you're in there, you little whore!" 

With that, he slammed the door and she heard the lock snap into place. 

Knowing it was useless, she launched back to her feet and pounded on the door, screaming in frustration that eventually turned into tears as her legs lost strength and she slid down to the floor. 

*** 

Her time in the isolation room came and went as did more days and months. When the others filed inside for dinner, Veya remained outside. She couldn't bring herself to face Yarvu again. It was worse than going to bed hungry. 

Berada would accuse her making trouble again by not coming to dinner on time, but she didn't care anymore. 

She knew she should go in, though, the doors would be locked any minute now. But the mere thought of doing so constricted her chest and made her heart feel like a load of stone blocks sat on top of it. 

She staired at the reflection of the setting sun in the windowed door trying to summon the courage to get up when she saw movement inside. 

Ebe peered outside as if searching. Then she spotted Veya and their eyes locked. Without breaking the stare, Ebe reached to the side and locked the door with a motorized whine. 

Veya's stomach dropped. 

She was locked out and didn't dare ask Berada to let her in. He'd severely punished others for much less. 

Or what if she knocked to be let in and it was Yarvu who came? 

But if she didn't, it wouldn't be long until they saw she was missing. 

She tried to think of other options, but there were done. None at all. She had to get inside somehow. 

But then she realized with an almost physical jolt, maybe she didn't. Why should she try so hard to get inside when what was in there was worse than what was out here? 

She could just _leave_. 

There was no one here to stop her. No one would even care. Berada would still claim the money of course, but have one less mouth to feed. 

She hesitated only a moment longer before pushing herself up from the dirt. Her body moved almost on its own as she could hardly believe she was really doing this. She turned toward the fence, glancing at the razor wire on top and slipped off her jacket to toss it over it. Then she reached up to grasp the top of the fence like she was in a trance and hoisted herself up and over. 

Her feet came down with a jarring impact on the hardpack on the other side and an immediate wave of relief rolled over her. The barbs ripped the inside lining of her jacket as she pulled it down with her. 

She took a few steps away, unsure where to go from there, but certain of only one thing: she had to go. She'd never been outside the wall since being brought here years ago. Honestly, she didn't even know what city she was in. 

Choosing a direction, she just started walking, not bothering to look back. 


	2. Veya, Part 2

Doubts had settled over her along with nighttime's darkness. This was by far the stupidest thing she'd ever done. What had she been thinking? How did she expect to eat? Where would she sleep? She knew enough about the world to know that it was dangerous to be out after curfew, but not enough to be able to answer those questions. 

But she couldn't go back. Not now. Not without harsh punishment. And even without that, the gut-twisting dread she felt at the mere thought of going back there prevented her from even entertaining the thought. 

Still, though, she didn't know how long she could survive on her own. There were children who lived on the street, but they knew where to go and how to slink by unseen. She didn't. 

Even so, she kept walking long into the night, avoiding anywhere she thought she might be seen by a Cardassian patrol, until she was so tired she couldn't bring herself to take another step. She just needed to sit down and rest her head for a moment. There was a stand of trees at the back corner of a building that looked dark enough. She found a spot where she could sit and lean back in the crook of one of the trees and closed her eyes. Just for a moment. 

*** 

_"Hey."_

Veya jumped at the sudden voice even though it was a whisper. She blinked, trying to clear her mind enough to make sense of what was happening. 

"Hey." The man repeated, kneeling on one knee in front of her. "It's not safe for you to be out here." 

She recoiled instinctively. 

"I won't hurt you." He said hastily. "But you shouldn't be here. You need to go home." 

"I don't have a home." She mumbled, heart still pounding. 

"Is there somewhere safe you can go?" He said gently. 

Her common sense finally caught up with her, there were people that preyed on street kids with nowhere else to turn. She shouldn't even be talking to him. But, at the same time, he was right, this wasn't a safe place for her to stay. 

He glanced around them. Was he nervous about being here too? 

"My name is Turin. I have a place where you can stay, just for the night." He offered, just as expected, but there was something there in his expression she hadn't seen in a long time. Something that kept her from rejecting the offer immediately. 

He offered his hand to help her up and she flinched away like he was going to grab her by force. 

"I'm sorry!" He pulled back, but with the movement, she could see the handle of a phaser tucked in his belt. 

There weren't many Bajorans that could get away with carrying a phaser. He could be with the Resistance, she thought with a flair of hope. 

Hanging her decision on the thin thread of that assumption, she pushed herself off the ground, brushing the dirt off of her jacket and hands. 

"I have a place just down the street. It's not much, but it'll get you through the night." He started down the street while she followed, keeping a safe distance. 

They walked past a large, rundown apartment building. He seemed on edge. Watching for Cardassians, no doubt. It was one thing for her to be caught out here, but he, with that phaser, was under great risk. 

He stopped at one of the last units in the building and passed a key chip over the sensor and slipped inside. 

With one last, completely reasonable hesitation, she followed him in, resolving to deal with whatever the rest of the night would bring. 

The inside was small, a single room with a door in the back that must have been a restroom. Much more spacious than anywhere she'd stayed in many years, though. The room was furnished with only a bed, a chair, and a cabinet that seemed to double as a table. 

"I'll sleep in the chair." He said hesitantly, running his hand through the hair on the back of his head. 

Veya shook her head, "I can't take your bed from you." 

"Really, it's alright. I'm used to sleeping in all sorts of places. The chair is fine and better than the floor." 

Feeling more than a little guilty, she sat on the bed and slipped off her shoes. The bed was so much softer than her cot back at the home, and she was so tired, she just wanted to sink into it. But first, she grabbed the blanket, dragging it off of the bed. 

"Here, I won't take your blanket, too." She said, handing it to him. 

He reluctantly took it, correctly guessing that she could out-stubborn him. 

With that settled, she eased herself down onto the bed and sunk into it. The smell that drifted up from the bedding danced across her memory and was so out of place that it took a moment to identify it. It was spiced incense like she remembered from the makeshift temples some of her neighbors had secretly set up in their homes before she was orphaned. 

Breathing deeply, she slipped back into sleep. 

*** 

Something sounded wrong, she realized as she began to wake. It was so quiet. And the air lacked the heaviness of dozens of her peers breathing in the same room. 

_Where am I?_

The unfamiliar sensations jerked her out of the semiconscious state as she sucked in a startled breath, sending her heart racing. 

Eyes wide, she looked around the strange room, trying to pull her memories back together. The room was dim, but light enough to see that she was almost alone. 

When she spotted the man sound asleep in the chair, neck propped at an uncomfortable angle, she finally remembered where she was. That she'd left her home of two years behind and followed a stranger to his apartment. 

It was a stupid thing to do, but he looked completely non-threatening there in his chair. Her gamble at coming with him seemed to have turned out okay after all. 

She slunk quietly out of bed to use the restroom and when she came back, he was awake and in the process of tossing the blanket back onto the bed in a jumble. Then he knelt in front of the cupboard. 

"Hungry?" 

"I can't take your food." She objected, even though her stomach twisted angerly. 

"I can get more." He said casually, as though any Bajoran in their situation could just _go get food_ at any time. "I have..." He looked at the can in one hand, but the label had been entirely worn off. "...something, and..." The can in his other hand was just as much of a mystery. "...something." 

She couldn't help a tiny giggle at that. "I'll take 'something.'" 

He handed her the first one and she peeled back the lid, careful not to spill a single drop of its contents. " _Rahs_ beans." A whole can of them! She'd had them used sparingly in thin soup where this amount was rationed out across the whole group, but had never seen this much at once. 

"Here, we can heat that up." He said, pulling a hotplate out of the cupboard and set the open can directly on it. Then he opened his. " _Pinras_." A root vegetable. "Are you happy with yours, or do you want to trade?" 

She thought for a moment, "Half and half?" 

"Sounds good." He smiled, creasing the skin on his cheek just slightly. 

A moment later, the beans were warm and he handed the can back to her with a spoon. The beans were plain, floating in a starchy liquid that was, frankly, more appetizing than anything she'd been served at the home. She swallowed her first bite quickly, followed by a rush of contentment at beginning to satisfy her hunger. But then she forced herself to slow down. 

Without a utensil for himself, Turin picked a whole _pinra_ out of his can with his fingers. "You never told me your name." 

"Veya." She said between bites. 

He nodded, seeming to memorize the information. "I take it you're running away from someone or someplace?" 

She only stared at her food; she didn't want to talk about it. 

"You're obviously not from the street, those kids usually have someplace to stay at night." He probed. 

"I was at Berada's Children's Home." She said softly, hoping he would drop it. "I won't go back." 

He did leave it at that, letting her eat in silence for a time. She watched the level of food until it looked like it had reached the half-way point and held it out to swap. 

"I'll be in town for a couple more days." He said, starting to eat where she left off. "You can stay here until then, but we'll need to set you up with something permanent." 

She lifted one of the _pinras_ out, it was too big to eat whole like he had done so she bit it in half. "Why are you doing this? Helping me?" 

He paused like that was the last question he expected her to ask and only shrugged. "Seemed like you needed it." 

She didn't bring up her suspicion that he was with the Resistance, but she was aching to know. If he was, what might be the reason he was in town? An information exchange with a contact? Some kind of supply purchase? Sabotage? She let her imagination run away with the thought. 

"First thing we'll need to do is get a few more of these." He said, holding up the can. "I know someone who might be able to help us out." 

She finished off the last of her food and sighed at the feeling of a full stomach, suddenly feeling like she wanted to go back to _sleep_. 

*** 

"Wait here." Turin told her and turned away. 

They'd walked quite some distance to a marketplace in the city, Azea. She stood where instructed, at a blank section of wall between two of the enclosed shops that ringed the perimeter. 

He walked casually to an open-air kiosk. The thought that he was in the Resistance resurfaced as she watched. He'd revealed on the walk over that he didn't have any money, but wouldn't explain how he expected to get food. She didn't know much about the food lines, except that they would have had to get in line hours ago to expect to get anything. And now, he was casually chatting with a shopkeeper that sold clothing, not food. She watched him until the two men turned toward her. 

She quickly turned away, stuffing her hands in her pockets and leaning casually against the wall, trying to look like she actually belonged there. 

The other shops and kiosks around her sold every kind of product she could have imagined. Then her eyes landed on a stationery shop down the way and her heart twisted. Long ago, on the edges of her memory, her father used to take her to shops like that to buy supplies for his work. Her mother had preferred digital media, but her father liked to write with pen and paper. 

If they had still been alive and if the Bajoran schools weren't being systematically strangled and shut down, Veya likely would have been someone's apprentice by now as most every member of her family had been at her age for generations. And she would have been looking ahead to a career as an accomplished writer. But that future had died along with her family. 

She struggled to fight back the sting of tears, but couldn't bring herself to turn away from the shop that had triggered them. 

Sensing someone approaching, she finally looked away. It was Turin. 

"You okay?" He asked, concerned. 

"Yeah." She said, taking a deep breath. 

He didn't look convinced, but she didn't want to talk about it right now, or ever. 

"There's one more stop I have to make on the lower level." He said and started off in a direction that thankfully took them away from the stationery store, then eventually to a wide staircase that led down. 

There were fewer people on the lower level, but somehow felt tighter, more closed in. Maybe it was the low ceiling or the lack of open breezeways. People were also more hushed here, even though the sound echoed loudly, or maybe because of that. 

They passed more shops and he stopped her at a bench in the center of the isle. "Wait here." Then he continued on to a shop that sold earring hardware. 

She slouched down on the bench, watching him go, feeling more and more like a freeloader. She was contributing absolutely nothing to this errand. She _could_ just walk away, she had the freedom to do that now. But she'd end up back in the same situation she'd been in the previous night. Besides, something other than self-preservation was keeping her here. Compelling her to study his every move as he leaned casually on the shop counter, chatting with the clerk. 

Then she saw it. With a movement so subtle and quick that she could have blinked and missed it, the clerk passed something to Turin while they continued their conversation without missing a step. Not even a flicker of a shift in facial expression. She was sure now, he had to be with the Resistance. 

As they left the market, it would appear to anyone else that they had accomplished nothing, but she'd seen enough to know better. Once they were alone on the deserted road back to the impoverished outskirts of the city, he pulled his hand out of his pocket with some kind of small packaged bar and handed it to her. 

"This is all I could get. They taste horrible, but they'll get us through another day." 

She took it from him and saw with a start that it had Cardassian markings on it, quickly stuffing it into her pocket in case they weren't as alone as she thought. 

None of their surroundings looked familiar from their morning departure and she was beginning to wonder if they'd gone to a completely different part of the city when she suddenly recognized the area immediately surrounding the apartment. He must have taken a different route. Another Resistance tactic or personal preference? 

They were just about to finally round the last corner when he cursed suddenly, pushing her back away from the corner. 

"What?" She whispered, heartrate already climbing in response. 

He shushed her urgently, so she waited. Finally, she began to hear some voices. It didn't take much experience with Cardassians to identify their sound. If there was a cluster of Cardassians in the area, that might mean they found Turin's hideout and the look on his face was consistent with that. 

He waved her back the way they came. 

When they were a full two blocks away, she finally asked, "How'd they find out about your place?" 

"Who knows. It happens sometimes." Shaking his head, brushing it off as though they hadn't been right there in that room just half a day earlier. 

Panic and doubt began to creep in. She was either safely under the, albeit temporary, care of an experience member of the Resistance or she was trusting a madman with no solid evidence either way. But she didn't exactly have any other options. Even if they would take her, she would not go back to that home. Not ever. 

Hero or nutcase aside, she was beyond exhausted. She'd been looking forward to another night in that soft bed after the day's excursion. She'd never walked so far in one day in her life. Her legs were so tired, she felt like they would collapse at each step, but he just kept _going_. She understood that he wanted to get as far away from the Cardassians as possible, but there would come a point where she couldn't go any farther. 

It was fully dark and past curfew by the time he began to slow their pace, beginning to peek into alleys and recessed doorways. Finally, he chose one, glanced around them and slunk into the shadow of a door on the side of a building. 

It would have been too dark to see anything except for the lit door controls, which glowed brighter when he pried the panel off. 

Veya made herself useful by watching and listening for anyone approaching, but thankfully there was nothing until they were suddenly plunged into complete darkness. She whipped around to see what had happened only to see that the door controls had gone dark. She heard rather than saw him manually side the door open. 

"Come on." He prompted after he had slipped through. 

She held out her hands and stepped forward into the darkness until her fingertips touched the door. It was open just enough for him to fit and she stepped through easily. Inside, she found herself at the bottom of a stairwell. There were lights up on the higher levels that allowed her to see that there was a dark alcove under and behind the stairs. 

"We should be okay here for the night." He said as they tucked themselves away into the darkness. 

_Should?_

At least there was enough space that both of them would be able to lay down to sleep. She carefully lowered herself down to the floor to both the relief and protest of her aching legs. 

Once settled, she heard him quietly opening his packaged food and she did the same. It was a dense pressed bar that smelled mildly of fish and something oddly sweet, and distinctly Cardassian. But she was so hungry, she quickly tore off a bite that tasted exactly how it smelled. 

"You'll need a job to support yourself after I leave tomorrow." He said quietly between bites. "What do you like to do? What are you good at?" 

She only shrugged. _Not much._ She thought without saying so. 

"You looked pretty interested in that stationery shop today." 

"My family's d'jarra is _Heliso_." She muttered into her dinner. 

"A writer?" He said enthusiastically. "Do you follow it?" 

"I was in training until I was six when..." She shook her head, kicking herself for letting him get into her like that. 

He let that part go, at least. "That explains why you have a better vocabulary than kids from the system usually do." Still probing. "Do you still write?" 

"Not in a long time." She intended to leave it at that, but something in his face pulled more out of her. "When you write something down, someone can see it. And if they can see it, they can use it to hurt you." She added, stomach twisting tight at the memory of the last time she put her feelings onto paper. It had been stupid to allow herself to be so vulnerable. The repercussions had been harsh and public. 

"I'm sorry." He said earnestly. "But it does give us a place to start. I can ask around to see if there are any others from _Heliso_ around here." 

"No." She said firmly. 

He stopped short of what he had been planning to stay. "Okay." He said slowly. "I'm sure there's something else we can find." 

"No." She repeated, surprised at the swell of courage she felt. "I want to go with you." 

"What?" 

She sat up on her knees and leaned toward him, lowering her voice to almost nothing. "You're with the Resistance, aren't you?" 

"What?" He said again, this time a little defensive. 

"You are." She insisted. "You're on some kind of mission here and I want in." 

He shook his head like she was being ridiculous, but she knew she was right. "You're imagining things." He maintained. 

"You have a phaser." She said, deadpan. 

He gaped, caught out, finally relenting. "How long have you known about the phaser?" 

"Since last night. It's the only reason I went with you." 

"That doesn't mean I'm Resistance." 

" _Trat_ you aren't." As a linguist, she'd been trained not to swear, but there were times that warranted it. "Nobody would risk carrying a phaser around unless they're with the Resistance. Then there were all of your _contacts_ today. Secretly passing things." 

She'd backed him into a corner, he couldn't deny it any more. "Alright. You're right. I underestimated you. But that doesn't mean you're ready to just join up." 

"How ready were you when you joined?" She could see immediately that he didn't have an answer that would support his position. "I have nothing here. _Nothing_. But I can be _something_ out there with you." 

He sighed heavily, "I'll think about it. But," He added before she could get excited, "tomorrow I want you to stay out of it." 

She nodded her agreement even though she was already working out how to get him to include her. 

*** 

They'd slept, then left their hiding place early in the morning, before anybody could spot them. 

"Do you have a base where you operate?" 

"We have a few locations we use, but we move around a lot." He said on the edge of exasperation. She'd been swamping him with questions the whole walk back to the Azea market. So far, all of his answers had been equally vague. 

"How many members are there?" 

"That depends on how you define 'member.'" He finally stopped and turned to her. "Look, I can't tell you all of this stuff. I haven't even decided to bring you with me when I go back." 

She crossed her arms and leaned back crookedly, "You will." 

He laughed genuinely. "Oh, really?" 

She made an affirmative noise in her throat. "If you were going to tell me 'no', you would have done it already." 

He stared back at her for a long time, sizing her up. He'd already underestimated her once. "Fine. But I don't make the final decision. And all of your questions will have to wait." 

She didn't like that, but decided she'd pushed him far enough on that topic. "So, what's today's mission?" 

"No." He said with finality and started walking again. 

"Whatever it is, it would be better to have help." She hurried to catch up. "Let me do _something_." 

He only shook his head silently. 

She overtook him and walked backwards in front of him to keep eye contact. "You've helped me so much, there must be something I can do to help you." She came to an abrupt halt, forcing him to stop again before running in to her. 

He frowned down at her, had she pushed him too far? 

"I'm on a tight timeline. If you're going to join us, you have to learn to work within a schedule." 

"Seems to me stubborn persistence is also a prerequisite for being one of you." 

He rubbed his forehead with a heavy sigh. "Is this how it's going to be the whole way?" 

"There's one way to find out." 

"Fine, let's just walk, though." He started walking at a faster pace to make up for all of the stopping. "This isn't some big, exciting mission. All I'm doing is planting a virus in the computers at the records office. What you saw me pick up yesterday was an ID card that will get me inside. If you really want to help, you can be my lookout." 

"How can I do that if you're inside?" She said, dropping all defiance from her voice. 

"I'll figure something out." 

They walked the remainder of the way in silence. She was terribly eager to know more about the Resistance. She'd never met any of them before and now he'd actually agreed out loud to take her to them. But she tamped down her enthusiasm for now. 

When they finally reached the city proper, they went back to the market, but didn't go inside. Turin took her by the shoulders and set her firmly down in a bench just outside the market's entrance. "Do not leave this spot." 

She nodded, a little surprised by his suddenly stern manner. Swallowing her unease, she watched him walk slowly along the vendors that had set up along the outside of the market. Another contact? She wondered. 

While he got lost in the crowd, she studied the buildings across the street. It was an old part of town with pre-occupation architecture. One of the exercises during her brief experience with schooling was studying the details around her. Her eyes automatically traced the curves and angles of the buildings as though she would one day need to describe them with a pen. She forced herself to stop that disheartening line of thought before it went too far. She would never write again. 

Most of the buildings looked like they were still under the control of Bajorans, based on the condition of the exteriors they were people struggling to get by rather than collaborators, but one couldn't be too certain. One building caught her attention with its large, intrusive sign hung out front that clashed with the delicate architecture. In bold Cardassian lettering, the sign indicated it was the records office. Her heart sped up a little at the realization. 

A pair of Cardassian soldiers appeared from the opposite end of the street coming from the direction Turin had gone. Veya instinctively averted her eyes and slunk down to become as invisible as possible. She hadn't had many encounters with Cardassian soldiers, but had heard enough to know not to draw their attention. 

The small crowd of people that Turin had disappeared into parted to make way for the strutting Spoonheads. She watched cautiously, finally spotting him. He was... not moving away like the rest of the crowd. He didn't even seem to notice them. 

She wanted to call out to him to warn him that they were there, but he was much too far away and she didn't dare call attention to either of them. Especially with a phaser and a stollen ID card on him. Maybe they'd just pass by and- 

He turned just as they were right behind him and collided full-body with one of them. The two staggered to keep their footing while the other Cardassian's hand immediately went to his phaser. 

Veya sucked in a breath. She could just make out Turin's hurried apologies while the one he ran into shoved him away where he stumbled back into a vendor's table. 

Thankfully, they irritably moved on with the crowd giving them an even wider berth. 

She finally forced herself to breathe again and belatedly remembered not to stare, choosing to inspect the significant amount of dirt under her fingernails instead. She shrunk away as they passed by, glowering at anyone senseless enough to look at them. 

By the time they were past her, Turin was again lost among the people milling around. 

How could he be so careless? He _had_ to know better than to get in a Cardassian's way. He could have gotten himself beat up or arrested if they saw that phaser. That would have been the end of his mission... unless he did it on purpose. She tried to think back through the encounter, but she'd been so alarmed that all she could remember was the Cardassians' reactions. 

Finally, when the Cardassians were completely out of sight, she spotted him walking back toward her, hurried but completely calm. 

When he sat down, he reached over and placed something in the palm of her hand, curling her fingers around it to conceal it. She didn't dare look at it at first, but it was a small, hard object that was longer than it was wide. 

"It's a Cardassian comm unit." He said quietly. "I linked it up to the one I already have so you can talk to me after I go in." 

Realization dawned on her. He did it to get a communicator for her! 

"Stay here, and let me know if anything happens out here." 

"Like what?" She asked, heart pounding already, this was _it_. She was really doing this. 

"I don't know, anything other than what's happening right now. Just tap the button and speak into it. Don't let anybody see it." 

She hastily nodded her understanding. 

"Give me your jacket." He said. 

She shrugged off her jacket and handed it to him and he bundled it up in his lap. If she hadn't already known about the phaser, she'd have missed him reach into his own jacket and slip it into hers. 

He hesitated before handing her jacket with the phaser inside back to her. "Be _very_ careful with this." 

She summoned all the bluster she could even though her hands were shaking as she took it from him. "What? My jacket?" 

He smiled finally, "Exactly." He stood, hesitating once again before leaving her. "If I'm not back in half an hour, walk away. Don't try to contact me, don't look for me, just leave." 

The realization of what he was saying sent a jolt through her stomach and she nodded her understanding. 

He was gone before she could say more. But what would she have said anyway? 'Good luck' seemed inadequate. 'Stay safe' was more than a little ridiculous. 'Come back soon'?? That would suggest _way_ too much of an attachment on her part considering they'd only met a day and a half ago. So, she just watched him cross the street in worried silence. 

He walked with far more confidence that she'd have been able to muster up to the front door of the records office and passed a card across the scanner. The door slid open to reveal a bored-looking Cardassian who lazily patted him down for weapons. 

Veya held the bundle tight in her lap and watched him disappear inside. 

*** 

Maybe half of his time limit had passed, but Veya was already worried. Anything could be happening in there, she thought. 

Her fingers twisted and pulled at a fastener on her jacket that was still wadded in her lap. She watched up and down the street obediently, but the more that time ticked by, the more she was sure something had gone wrong. 

_Based on what?_ The rational part of her asked. She didn't have an answer. She knew next to nothing about his plan and even less about how he would carry it out, only a quick warning that half an hour was too long. 

Down the street she saw the two Cardassian patrols returning, but now they were walking at a brisk pace. Directly toward the records office, she realized with a tightening knot of dread in her stomach. 

Her heartrate ticked up another notch when the door to the records office and the Cardassian inside came out to meet the others, all but confirming her fears. 

She raised the communicator to her lips and tapped the activation key. "I think they know you're there." She said urgently. 

No response. 

"Are you there?" She checked that the unit was active, it was, but there was still nothing. 

"Can you hear me?" She said as loudly as she could without drawing attention. 

They could be blocking the signal somehow. 

For the moment, the patrol Cardassians and the one at the door were only checking through something on a padd, but they could go in and catch him by surprise at any moment. 

Veya scrambled for any way she could get a message to him, but came up empty. 

Could she run up to them and draw them away under the pretense of some more urgent matter? That thought sent cold terror through her. It wouldn't work anyway. When she had no emergency to show them, they would know it was a distraction and probably arrest her, making things worse for Turin. 

She had to do something. 

The barest flicker of a plan passed through her mind and she made a move before she could think better of it. She slid her jacket back on, careful to hide the phaser until she had it tucked into the back of her pants. Then she got up and crossed the street to the passthrough two buildings down as casually as she could manage. 

When she reached the back alley, she turned back toward the records office and hurried up to the rear entrance. 

A quick afterthought, she splashed her hands into a dirty puddle and ruffed up her hair and wiped dirt on her face, which already wasn't so clean. Looking as much like a street kid as she could, she knocked on the door, praying to the Prophets that she wasn't too late. 

A Cardassian man in civilian clothes peeked through the door and relaxed at the sight of a pitiful child. 

"Please." She said meekly. "Anything you can spare?" 

With a sigh, he opened the door wider and turned away. 

Spotting a camera above the door at the last moment, she stepped inside, out of view, before reaching back for the phaser. 

As fast as she could, she pressed the phaser against the back of his neck. "Hands where I can see them." 

Despite the obvious tremble in her voice, he complied. "We don't have a lot here, but take whatever food you can carry." 

She walked him further inside, past a staircase that went down, stopping when she saw the main hallway and the three Cardassians still at the open front door. Tugging at his collar, she guided him away into an office. 

"I'll show you where there's food." He offered again. 

She quickly studied the small control screen on the phaser and tapped it to what she thought should be stun. Then she shoved him away from her and shot him. 

There was no time to contemplate what she'd just done. If the Cardassians knew she'd shot one of them, even on stun, she'd be arrested for sure. Probably executed. 

Tucking the phaser away again along with that thought, she wiped her face relatively clean, patted her hair down neatly and walked into the hall like she belonged there. 

But where could Turin be? There was the basement, but also two more floors above and she hadn't the slightest idea where he could be. 

The two Cardassian patrols came toward her down the hall and she hurried out of their way, flattening herself against the wall as they brushed by, completely ignoring her. They marched toward the back the basement staircase and she froze. That had to be where Turin was. 

Willing herself to move despite the crippling terror, she hurried up to the Cardassians. "Hey! Someone's been shot! I don't know if he's dead!" That got their attention and she led them back to the office where she'd shot the other one. 

One of them rushed inside while the other took her by the arm and moved her firmly against the wall in the hallway. "Stay right there." He ordered and followed his colleague inside. 

When she was sure they were no longer paying attention to her, she took a few cautious steps to the side, then turned and hurried down the stairs. 

The basement was dark and filled with stacks of computer cores. 

She didn't see him right away, so she whispered as loudly as she dared. "Turin!" 

She came around a stack of computer equipment and nearly cried out when she bumped into him. 

"What are you doing here!" He grabbed her shoulders. 

"They know you're down here!" She hurriedly pressed the phaser into his hands, relieved to be freed from it. 

Heavy footsteps came down the stairs and Turin pulled her by the elbow back into a dark, recessed area behind a large computer stack. He brought out a device that shined brightly onto his face in the darkness and tapped out some commands before putting it away. 

She could feel his shoulder and arm move across in front of her protectively as the Cardassian moved slowly to them. Surely, he could feel her body shaking. 

Barely daring to breathe, she watched the Cardassian pass by, pausing to scan for them, but he didn't detect them. Even after multiple passes with the scanner, he peered into the darkness around them without spotting them and finally moved on. 

Turin peeked out of their hiding place with a quick movement, then took her hand and dashed across to another alcove formed by the equipment. This one was against the outer wall where there was a tiny window just below the ceiling. 

"Go. Out there." He said, pointing to the window. 

"What about you? You won't fit." She wasn't even sure if she'd fit. 

"I'll find another way out." When she began to protest, he barely let her make a sound before interrupting. "It'll be easier for me alone. I'll meet you back at the market where we saw that sculpture yesterday." 

She wanted to argue, but the Cardassian could come around for a second pass soon, so she turned to reach for the window ledge while Turin gave her a boost with his interlaced hands. 

The window unlatched with a quiet scraping sound and she pushed it open to the back alley, checking in both directions before pulling herself through with his help from below. The waistband of her pants caught on the window frame as her hips squeezed through, but she managed to wiggle free and raced down the alley away from the records office. 

*** 

She knew exactly what sculpture he was talking about. It was just outside the market on nearly the opposite side from the records office. It was a representation of the nearby Joralla mountain range. Clearly pre-occupation, since public art was a luxury only collaborators could indulge in, and in general Azea was not a city of collaborators. 

Veya paced despite urging herself not to. She couldn't help it. She'd left him behind, the knot in her stomach twisted even tighter at the thought. She'd just _left_. 

He knew what he was doing. She was sure he was right that he was better off without her, but that didn't help much. And if she'd been caught? She allowed herself to ponder that thought, if only to distract her from what could be happening to him right at that moment. 

If she'd been caught, the civilian Cardassian would come to and recognize her, there'd be no question she was helping the Resistance. She didn't know much, but she could be forced to give up the two contacts she knew of there in the market or enough about their plan that they'd be able to detect the virus he planted. 

No, it was better to be certain she wasn't captured. But she couldn't shake the sheer wrongness of leaving someone behind like that. 

Another thought forced itself into the foreground, was the phaser really set on stun? She'd never used one, she could have read the interface wrong. She was sure it indicated it was set on stun, but what if she was wrong? Killing Cardassians was an indisputable part of being in the Resistance, but could she really have just done that? 

Her thoughts spiraled. She'd never even confronted a Cardassian before. If she'd killed one of them, they could be coming for her right at that moment. 

_It was on stun._ She insisted, but those lightning-fast moments kept replaying in her mind. She'd checked the phaser's setting, pushed him away, then shot and he collapsed. 

Someone grabbed her shoulders from behind and she nearly screamed. 

Turin shushed her, "Come on." He said, whisking her away. 

He was alive. And free. She could have cried at the relief. 

He kept her moving at a brisk pace through the edges of the city. When they were far enough out that they were alone, she said, "I shot one of them." 

He didn't seem the least bit surprised. "I thought so. It was on stun when you handed it to me." 

_It was on stun._

"I couldn't kill him." She admitted, suddenly feeling like she should have. 

"It's okay. You did great." 

She took a slow breath to calm her trembling insides. 

*** 

It took quite some time for her to come down from the adrenaline high. The whole while, every muscle in her body seemed to have been shaking uncontrollably. Now she felt like she would collapse. Like everything inside her had liquified. 

Somehow, she kept putting one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. They walked through the rural districts just outside the city. Turin knew of a passage where they were able to avoid the checkpoints as they left the city. Now they walked along a dirt road with tall crops on either side. With no street lights, and clouds covering all three moons that were up, it was pitch black all around them except for some lights up ahead from one of the few houses along this route. 

The sun had set many hours earlier and her stomach was telling her it was long past dinner. She was used to being hungry, it was rare to have enough food. But meals had always been at consistent intervals in the homes. Tardiness was unacceptable. She was starting to understand that in the Resistance, food would be unpredictable. Eating was something that would be opportunistic and irregular. 

Assuming they let her join, that is. 

That knot in her stomach suddenly returned, now so tight it felt like her insides would snap. Turin had said it wasn't his decision to make. And why should they let her join because she _wanted_ to. It was juvenile to believe they would take her word for it. Just because she was young? The Cardassians could have turned her and trained her to infiltrate the Resistance. If she could think up such a strategy, they certainly could. 

What if they rejected her? What would she do? 

_Less food for the rest of us._

The cruel phrase echoed through her memory. 

She stopped abruptly, almost as terrified of the thought as she had been in that records office. "What if they say no?" 

He slowed but didn't stop and she had to catch up to hear his response. "Then we'd go back to the city and find you a job and somewhere to stay." 

She stopped again, this time grabbing his elbow to force him to stop. "That's not funny." 

His face was just barely visible in the dim house lights, but she could see sympathy there. "They won't. Not after today. I'll make sure of it." 

He started walking. That knot in her stomach finally uncoiled and she fell into step again. He would? 

"You saved my life back there." He said without allowing her to see his face. 

It had never crossed her mind to do anything else, honestly. 

"I'm pretty sure you saved mine two days ago." She said, glancing sideways, the corner of his mouth twitched upward a tiny bit. 

"One thing you'll have to learn if you're going to be in the Resistance," He said, breaking the stillness of the moment, "is to follow directions. When I say to stay put, you need to stay." He finally turned to look sternly at her but there was playfulness there too. 

She kept her face forward and snorted a short laugh, "That'll happen." 

She could _feel_ him smiling back. 


	3. Veya, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a bit of time passes during this chapter. Just showing Veya and Turin's growing friendship.

She hadn't been taken in with open arms, exactly, but nowhere near the suspicion she was afraid of. Their leader, Mazan, seemed like a gruff, stern man, but soft somewhere underneath all of that, the way he looked at his people, the way he planned missions, it was clear he cared deeply about them. Even Veya had earned that privilege already. 

So far, they'd changed their location three times in the few months she'd been there. There was the barn of a sympathetic farmer, where they'd been when she first joined. The abandoned painter's studio on the edge of one of Azea's suburb towns. A shantytown where they were very much exposed, but able to disappear among the ragged shelters of the destitute residents. Then there was their current base. An empty house just inside the Jorallan forest, the least secure so far. 

The Cardassians were aware of this place. They frequently patrolled this part of the forest and always inspected the house for evidence that anyone had been there. The cell had built false walls and hiding places into closets and other out of the way places where they could quickly hide. At the approach of a patrol, everyone present was to grab anything around them and get out of sight until it was safe again. 

Despite the constant uncertainty and change, life went on for them. They ate when they had opportunity, found joy and mutual support in any way they could. They planned missions, honed their skills and talked of a day when the Cardassians would be gone. 

She was familiar enough already to use a hand phaser with some level of proficiency, Turin had seen to that himself. Larger weaponry and explosives were next on her training agenda. She was sure she'd pick up on strategy and tactics soon enough. But most of the time, they only gave her busy work. Checking power cells and em terminals, supply inventory and other chores. 

Her current task was equally necessary-but-tedious. Mazan had dropped a portable computer interface into her lap and told her to run a series of decryption protocols on a scrambled document they'd obtained. There were over one-hundred decryption protocols. Each had to be run manually, and each took at least ten to fifteen minutes. 

She'd perked up when they started organizing a strike on the nearby Cardassian communications station after picking up some unexpected intel. But she wouldn't be going. No matter how tedious her task, it needed to get done. So, they left her at the base with Cazki keeping watch outside while she trudged along on her task. 

Just as she started another decryption, he hurried in. "We've got a patrol." 

She knew the procedure: grab anything that would indicate anyone had been here recently and duck behind the false wall in the nearby closet. She scooped up the computer, glanced around for anything else, and slipped out of sight. Cazki had already disappeared into one of the other hiding places. 

Usually, the patrols just peeked in the windows and moved on, so she prepared for a short wait. But then she heard the door creek open, followed by the hollow sound of heavy boots on the wood floor. 

She slowly set the computer down without a sound and reached back for her phaser. 

The Cardassian continued farther into the house with slow, even footsteps, passing through the room she'd just been in and right past her hiding place. Then he stopped and turned into the restroom. 

Veya relaxed a tiny bit even as she recoiled at the sound of him taking a piss. 

When he finished, he retraced his steps back toward the front door, but stopped abruptly. 

Veya's grip tightened around her phaser. Had she left something behind? 

Then she heard Cazki yell as he was pulled from his hiding place, followed by the sound of a scuffle. 

She quickly stepped out of her hiding place with her phaser ready but hesitated. 

The Cardassian had Cazki in a headlock while they fought for superior footing. 

"Shoot him!" Cazki shouted at her. 

The Cardassian whipped his head around and zeroed in on her. 

She froze for a moment, breathless, wide-eyed, not quite able to make herself press the firing key. 

"Do it!" Cazki demanded. 

Then she did. The shot was clean, Cazki had made sure of that, twisting their bodies so the Cardassian was between them. She pressed the key, the phaser discharged a short burst of energy that landed a little high, but right into the Cardassian's back. It melted through his armor and into his body, burning his flesh down into his vital organs. 

The Cardassian's body dropped with a heavy thud. 

Cazki fell to his knees, gasping to refill his lungs. 

Veya kept her phaser trained on the Cardassian in case he wasn't dead, but he didn't move. 

_He didn't move._

Her chest heaved with short, rapid breaths. Then her stomach heaved. She turned and rushed to the restroom and barely made it before the scanty contents of her stomach came up. 

Phaser still in her hand, she grasped the edge of the lavatory as her stomach continued to wretch at nothing. 

Somewhere seemingly distant, she heard Cazki approach, but he said nothing. 

When it had finally stopped, she waited there to catch her breath and found tears that she hadn't been aware of streaming down her face. Then she rinsed her mouth in the sink and turned to face him. 

"Come on, we have to take care of the body." He said, wholly composed like nothing had happened, but the mention of 'the body' threatened to send her back into the restroom. 

*** 

The knees kept slipping out of her grasp, but she didn't want to put it down again to readjust. She couldn't bear to think of the body as 'him', only a body, only an 'it'. Cazki had his arms hooked under its arms and had no such trouble. It was heavier than she'd expected. Come to think about it, she'd never picked someone up before, not even another child, and hadn't realized how heavy bodies were. Lifting one's own limbs was easy enough, she hadn't realized how heavy a large Cardassian solider would be. 

...a Cardassian she'd killed. Her stomach lurched again. Her heart was already racing from the exertion and she hoped Cazki would think that's all it was. 

There was a ravine just up ahead where they would dump the body. Her legs were about to give out by the time they reached it, but she'd made it. Together, they threw the body over the edge. 

She made the mistake of watching it fall. It hit a tree on the way down with a sound like a branch snapping, but she knew it wasn't a branch. 

She turned away, unable to endure, wishing to wipe the site and sound from her memory, even as it still fell. 

Satisfied when the noise stopped, Cazki turned away from the bluff and began the walk back to the house. "As soon as we get back, grab the computer you were working on and as many ration packs as you can carry." At her questioning glance, he explained, "When he doesn't check in within the next couple of hours, they're going to send a search party back along his route." 

"Why did we get rid of the body, then?" She said, genuinely baffled. 

"The longer it takes them to find it, the farther away we can get before they come after us." 

Panic shot through her chest. They would come after them because of what she did. Not that she could, or should have done anything else. But because she fired that phaser, a Cardassian force would spread through this area looking for them. 

*** 

They were in no-contact mode with the rest of the cell, so they couldn't just call them on the comms to tell them to meet them somewhere else. They had to follow the return route they would most likely be taking now, hoping to get close enough to spot them. 

Veya worried that they wouldn't, that they'd completely miss each other and the rest of the cell would get back to the house just as the search party arrived looking for the patrol. Soon enough, though, Cazki tensed and waved for her to stop and take cover. Someone was approaching and he hadn't yet identified them. 

She did as told, lowering down behind a bush that was thick enough to hide her and readied her weapon just like he did. After a moment, he took out his comm and tapped in a sequence on the smaller buttons next to the main activation key. 

She strained to hear anyone approaching while he split his attention between the area up ahead and his comm. 

A blinking light on the comm caught her eye, four blue flashes and a red one. That seemed to be what he was waiting for. Cazki relaxed and stood, calling out a greeting to them. Veya followed, finally spotting the familiar faces. 

"Location's burned." He called to them. Not literally, of course. 

Mazan stopped and adjusted his pack while he thought. "We'll go to the inn." And with a hand gesture, lead them off in another direction without further discussion or questioning what had happened. 

The 'inn' wasn't a base she'd been to yet. She fell into step with Turin without a word, just relieved to see him. What would he think when he found out what she'd done that day? 

*** 

She was informed on the hike that the inn had been abandoned decades ago, before the Occupation officially began, during a time of economic decline that the Cardassians had most likely caused while positioning themselves to take over. The only road to the inn had been washed out and there was no funding to fix it. Being so deep in the forest, the owners abandoned it, probably for a life of destitution in the early days of the Occupation. 

They approached the inn cautiously as always. As it came into view, that little bit of creativity she had left sparked. It was a plain building, not large. Only two floors, maybe half a dozen rooms if they were all on the upper level. The whole thing was built _into_ the steep hillside so that the flat roof at the back of the building met the ground. Forest vines covered much of the porch that ran the width of the front. 

Veya automatically imagined guests seated at tables there having dinner with a view of the downward-sloping forest as the sun dipped behind the hazy hills far away. Happy, untroubled families, couples or individuals laughing and talking and breathing in the cool forest air while the proprietor stopped by each table to check on her guests. 

Eclectic and richly diverse characters eased into her imagination. It could be the deceptively gentile opening for a murder mystery... or a haunting, she thought with excitement. But then she shook it off. Even if she had the courage to take up the pen again, she couldn't afford such distractions. She had to be present. Here. Now. A lapse in attention could end in disaster. 

Mazan sent Cazki and Wecha around the perimeter while the rest prepared to check the inside. 

Veya's first step onto the porch came down onto a soft floorboard, soggy from the frequent rain this time of the year. She followed the rest inside to find that the interior of the first floor had been almost completely gutted except for a curved staircase in the exact center. Probably by opportunistic looters that were desperate for anything to sell in order to feed their families. 

She was doing it again. Creating stories while she had to be paying attention. 

Mazan sent Airoh, Acta, Rholg, Kopia and Turin upstairs while he and Veya were to check the downstairs, which wasn't difficult, since all they had to do was one circuit around the stairs. 

As soon as the all-clear was given she found a place to sit and continued working on the decryption. She'd been through probably seventy-five percent of the protocols already, any one of the rest of them could do the trick. 

She'd run another three by the time she realized that almost everyone else was gathered on the far side of the room, behind the staircase where she could just barely see them. She knew she shouldn't, but she strained to listen in and realized with a start that Cazki was telling them what had happened. 

"... he spotted me somehow and grabbed me. Veya shot him. We dumped the body then came to meet you." 

"How'd she do?" She couldn't see him, but that was Mazan's voice. 

_How'd she do?_

Her heart raced almost like when it had first happened. _How'd she do?_ She'd frozen. Anything could have happened in those seconds she'd hesitated. The patrol could have snapped Cazki's neck or gone for a weapon. Her inaction could have cost his life. She didn't know what they would do when he told them about it. 

"She did just fine." He said lightly. 

Veya blinked, letting out the breath that she'd been holding. 

_Fine?_

The cluster seemed to accept that and dispersed. 

She had not done _just fine_. Not at all. More than her hesitation, she'd even thrown up at just the act of killing that Cardassian. Their mortal enemy. She shouldn't feel even a twinge remorse at killing someone who had probably beaten and killed and raped their kinsmen. 

Turin came into her view and approached her, sitting down next to her while she initiated another decryption. 

"That's not exactly how it happened." She muttered. 

"Yeah?" He said, neutral. 

"I froze up. The Cardassian had Cazki in a headlock, I aimed my phaser, but I didn't fire. I froze. He had to yell at me _twice_ before I did it." She didn't dare look up from the screen. 

He paused for a moment but finally spoke. "So, you hesitated before your first kill. Big deal. I've been around long enough to have seen most of them kill for the first time," he said, indicating the others, "and I guarantee you none of them did any better." 

She didn't have anything to say to that, but the knot in her stomach began to uncoil for the first time in hours. 

He went on. "Taking a life is an unnatural thing. Everything inside us tells us no. And that's a good thing." 

She could feel him turn to fully face her, but she still didn't look up. 

"But, how do you do it?" She said, almost pleading. 

"You gather up as much hate and anger as you can muster and bury that part of you that says not to do it. And eventually that becomes so automatic that you don't even have to think about it. You just pull the trigger. It'll eat you up inside, but that's the price we pay." 

*** *** *** *** *** *** 

Veya skidded to a stop in the wet gravel just ahead of Turin as they tucked themselves under the dark ledge of an elevated Cardassian roadway. She slid an arm around her bent knees to keep them from slipping into view, panting silently while she listened to the sound of Cardassian soldiers run by overhead. 

All of her focus was on their pursuers, but she was acutely aware of Turin's presence beside her in the small space, offering warmth and comfort on a brutally cold night. 

It should have been a simple mission: plant a bomb outside the office of a collaborator and detonate it once they were safely out of the area. But they'd been seen and had to set it off prematurely otherwise it could be found and disarmed. The Cardassians' response time was remarkably fast in the government sector, the two of them had been pinned in, unable to find a clear route out of the area. 

Another pair of soldiers hurried by above them, more slowly this time. Probably scanning for their lifesigns. Veya gripped her phaser, preparing to fight, but the Cardassians moved on. 

"Oh, hey, before I forget." Turin whispered, digging through his pockets, as though they weren't in mortal danger. Then he held out his hand to her with something in his clenched fist. When she let go of her knees and held her hand under his, he dropped something into her palm. 

It was warm from being in his pocket and she held it in a small shaft of dim light. It was shiny metal. A piece of jewelry. She shook it around to spread it out: an earring. She looked over at him, curious. 

"I realized I don't know how old you are, but it must be time by now." He said quickly before more searchers passed by. 

He was right, what would have been her _ih'tanu_ , when she would have been presented with an earring by a member of her family, had passed months earlier. She hadn't mentioned it to anybody and had expected it to pass by unnoticed. 

Even in the dim light, without the patina that most earrings quickly developed, the metal gleamed. She spread it out in her hand to get a better look at it. 

"I didn't know your family's insignia." He said as an apology. 

"It's beautiful." She whispered as much from awe as the continued need for concealment. True, it didn't have any indication of her family, her heredity or her d'jarra, but she wouldn't have wanted those things anyway. It was simple, a clip with a traditionally circular design and a cuff connected by a single chain. Awkwardly at first, she hung it from her right ear and turned for him to see. 

"Perfect." He smiled, but immediately turned back to business. It had been several minutes since the last time they'd heard anyone and he began to edge out of their hiding place. 

She glanced to the left to see the lights of their pursuers clustered together, then to the right where the road led to a deserted farm plot, the perfect place for them to get lost. But before that, she knew, there was a Cardassian garrison post they'd have to slip by. If they were spotted there, the farm would lose any and all protection for them. 

Even with the searchers still in view, he said, "Let's go." And indicated the direction to the right. 

The two of them bolted out of hiding and ran heedlessly into the open with only darkness as their cover. They dropped down into the soggy drainage ditch to mask the sound of their footsteps. Turin's labored breathing was loud in her ear as they hastily skirted the edge of the Cardassian buildings, keeping as low as possible while still at a near sprint. 

As the lights of Cardassian buildings fell away between the stems of the rustling plants, they ran, their feet stirring up mud as they went. Up the wide ribbon of dirt that tapered off beyond the farm plot. It was an overgrown road to nowhere. Nowhere, anyway, but into the safety of the back country where they could disappear once again. 

*** *** *** *** *** *** 

Being careful to stay close to the kitchen door, Veya moved through the sitting room straightening up and using an old-fashioned duster. The lady of the house had declared that modern dust removal equipment was too noisy for her delicate sensibilities. Veya rolled her eyes, glad to be alone in the room for the moment. 

Her cell had used a contact to get her embedded in the cleaning staff of Administrator Prux, one of the Cardassian bureaucrats that oversaw the city. Veya had bribed Aryan, one of the evening kitchen staff, to disappear for the day and, right on time, Seehu, the head of the kitchen staff, burst through the door. 

"You... um... you." She said, forgetting Veya's name. "Wash up. I need you." 

She didn't hesitate, it was what she'd been waiting for, and hurried to the washroom at the entrance to the kitchen. Once she had made herself presentable, she went into the utilitarian kitchen, stopping when a Cardassian soldier stepped into her way. 

She'd expected this too. He patted her down for anything that could be used to harm the influential family. She wouldn't be so stupid to hide anything on her, so she waited calmly, careful not to fiddle with the vile hidden under her tongue. 

When he was satisfied she was harmless, she proceeded into the room and followed Seehu's orders to prepare dishes for the family's dinner, arrange a set of flowers and prepare bundles of utensils. Seehu rushed through her own tasks, mostly ignoring Veya, she'd probably lost a considerable amount of preparation time when Aryan didn't show up. 

Veya watched for any opportunity to deliver into the food the toxin she'd brought, but the soldier watched them carefully. 

Seehu glanced anxiously at the chronometer, "Go get two glasses and a bottle of kanar from that cupboard and deliver it to the dining room." She snapped at Veya. 

The hutch was at the opposite end of the room from where Seehu was working. It would be hard for the Cardassian to watch both of them. Veya walked quickly to it, opened the doors and took down two blocky glasses, setting them on the ledge where the cabinet door would block his view. This was it. This was her chance. Her heart pounded. 

With a practiced movement, she had the vile in her hand and snapped it open, breaking the seal. Then she rubbed the waxy contents quickly around the rims of the glasses and snapped the vile shut again. Unsure what to do with it now, she tucked it away into her cleavage, covering the movement by reaching for one of several crook-necked bottles just as the soldier turned back to her direction. 

She picked up the two glasses in one hand, making a warbly clink, and hefted the bottle in the other, moving quickly to the door that led to the dining room. It wasn't until she passed through without being stopped by the soldier that she breathed again. 

The dining room was beyond opulent. A distasteful amalgam of Bajoran and Cardassian design that they probably thought was sophisticated but only came off as offensive, that they would _use_ her peoples' culture this way. 

She hid her revulsion behind a demure smile and approached the table, nearly stopping short when she saw that it was not only Administrator Prux and his wife, but they had a child with them as well. She had known they had a child, but it hadn't hit her yet that he would be right there with them, though she should have realized. 

He was about to become an orphan because of her. Cardassian orphans were worse off than Bajoran orphans. At least she'd been among her own kind in the homes, not surrounded by a blood enemy. He was not the target, but tonight was essentially the end of his life. 

Setting the glasses and bottle down between the two adults, she quashed the guilt that had welled up. How many Bajoran children would be orphaned under Prux's authority? Even one was too many. 

Veya wanted to bolt back out of the room, but waited to be dismissed, which the lady of the house did with a disinterested wave of her hand. 

Forcing herself not to rush, she stepped quietly out the door that would take her to the front entry room rather than back to the kitchen. 

Assuming they started on their kanar right away, it would take a minute or two for the toxin to take effect. All she had to do was slip out before the chaos began. 

The Cardassian at the front door stopped her without a word. 

"I've been dismissed for the day." She said meekly, seconds ticking by. 

He seemed about to let her go. Then there was a crash from the other room followed by alarmed voices and he grabbed her arm to guide her away from the door. 

One hand on his weapon, he patted her down with the other. Searching anywhere she could have hidden some kind of weapon. 

She shifted her weight anxiously, hoping he wouldn't find the vile. With it, they could identify the toxin quickly enough to make this whole mission useless. 

Her hopes crashed when he felt along the underside of her breast and detected the hard object there. 

He reached in and pulled it out while drawing his weapon, but as he moved to tap his comm, she spotted a knife clipped to his belt. 

She snatched it off of him and ducked away from the aim of his weapon with the same movement. Her thumb quickly found the release for the switchblade and flicked it open. 

Acting more out of instinct than conscious thought, she sliced the knife through the air up high toward his face. 

The blade grazed his jaw enough to give her a split second to strike again and she jammed it into his throat. 

A wet sound was all that came out of his mouth as he fell. Veya grabbed the vile out of his weakening grip and bolted out the front door into the humid night, bloody knife still in hand. 

She hurried out to the street to a spot along the wall that surrounded the property and yanked out a bundle she'd hidden in the bushes earlier. Quickly stripping off her servant's uniform in the darkness, she pulled a simple shift dress over her head and shoved the wadded-up uniform back into the bush. 

Just as she began to hear someone coming for her, she dashed across to another fenced home and ducked into the bushes where she'd made a small opening in the fence the previous night. She squeezed through the opening, scraping her back and stomach on the sharp metal and pushed herself back into even deeper shadows. 

The knife, still wet with blood, remained poised to strike in case she was spotted, but the two soldiers passed by without seeing her. 

She slowly clicked the blade back into its handle, willing herself to move. Slowly at first, she shifted, ready to run from shadow to shadow along the route she had planned earlier. It would take her along the edge of this estate and through two others. They were big enough that, as long as she didn't trip any security systems, she'd be able to get out. 

Keeping her head low, she darted to the next pool of darkness and the next. From there, she could see the lighted interior of the house some distance away, but they were unlikely to see her from there, so she continued on. 

By the time she reached the back of the property, she was certain she was alone and vaulted over the fence to the next property. There, she couldn't just skirt the edge, she had to wind through an outdoor entertaining area. An automated light flickered on and she increased her speed, sweat beginning to trail down her temples now. 

When she made it to her exit point, she stopped and pressed her back against the high stone wall to listen for a moment. The only sound was the pounding of her heart in her ears and her tightly controlled breathing. 

She heard nothing else, so she reached up to grab the lowest branch of the tree nearest the wall and climbed up to a branch that reached across to the other side and dropped down into the last property. Fortunately, she only had to slip through the densely treed corner of the property and out through a gap in the hedge to the edge of the forest where she could disappear. 

*** 

Veya had reached a designated spot where the others would leave a message with their next location. It was the barn that they operated out of sometimes, and it wasn't too far, it only took a couple of hours to reach the creek that told her she was almost there. 

Exhausted from the evening's activities, she bent down to the flowing water and splashed some up onto her face to wash away some of the grime and sweat, then scooped some up for a quick drink that barely wet her parched throat. 

Before she continued on, she flicked the switchblade open again and waved it around under the water, rubbing with her thumb to remove the dried blood. 

While she worked, the clouds split for a moment, allowing two almost-full moons to shine down on her and she got a good look at the knife for the first time. High quality metal gleamed in the light and she saw that an intricate pattern had been cut into the grip. The curve of the handle was precisely contoured as well. This was an expensive piece to be sure. She immediately thought that Turin would love it. She certainly owed him some token of her appreciation for everything he'd done for her over the years since they'd met. 

She decided that's what she would do with it. She had a sturdy, utilitarian blade that he was holding onto for her while she was away, she didn't need this one. She smiled to herself at the thought of presenting it to him as she stepped across the creek toward the barn. 

She approached slowly, knowing there would be a lookout somewhere. 

The snap of a twig close by signaled their location and she stopped. 

"Nice night for a walk." A voice she knew belonged to Kopia uttered the challenge phrase. 

"As much fun as a jar of barrowbugs." She provided the all-clear response phrase that would let him know she wasn't being followed or coerced. 

Without any further identification, she heard him move away and she continued to the sagging door of the old barn. Once inside, she spotted several small groups of her comrades, some talking, some sleeping. Mazan saw her and stood while she approached. 

"Congratulations." He said with a knowing smile and held up a padd where someone had tapped into the military comms feed. It indicated both of the targets were dead. She _could_ have killed just Prux, but couldn't have been certain which glass he would have used. 

"Thank you." She said curtly through the stab of guilt at what she'd done to the child, but she shook it off. Cardassians were the enemy. Every one of them. 

She handed him the remnants of the toxin vile and went to find Turin close to a hay door that he'd propped open for fresh air. He smiled when she came near, picking up a small, wrapped package next to him. 

"I saved you some dinner." He handed it to her. 

She knelt, setting the package in her lap even though her stomach twisted with hunger. Instead, she held out the folded blade to him. 

"I got this for you." 

"Woah." His eyes lit up, taking in the beautiful piece. "Where'd you get it?" 

"Eh, some guy." She said, feigning indifference. "He won't need it anymore." 

He flicked it open with a wide smile, admiring it. 

*** *** *** *** *** *** 

Veya blew into her hands to try to keep her fingers warm enough to move them, then reached back inside the broken heating unit. The temperature control assembly was burned out. If she could just bypass it, maybe she could get it to start up again. There would be nothing to regulate the temperature, but they would just turn it off if it got too warm. 

_Too warm_. That would be a change. 

The cell had been holed up in this abandoned rowhouse without building-wide heat for three of the coldest weeks so far this winter. These portable heating units were the only thing keeping them from freezing to death. They'd had to sleep in groups just to make it through the nights. 

"Hey." Turin hurried up to her, still bundled in his coat, cold radiating from him, reminding her that it was even colder outside. 

"I got something for you." He continued, kneeling down and reaching inside his jacket. He'd been out on an intel run and she couldn't fathom what he might have found for her while doing that. 

With pride, he presented to her a small, leather-bound book. 

She took it from him uncertainly. It had no title or ornamentation on the cover, so she thumbed it open. The pages were blank. 

"So you can write!" He prompted, handing her a pen. 

She shook her head, "I don't write anymore." 

"You need to tell our story." He insisted, absolutely serious now, eyes drilling into hers, almost pleading. "All of us." He motioned to include those in the other rooms. "Any one of us could die tomorrow. And again the next day and the next until there's no one left that knows any of us even existed. _You_ have the gift to tell our story. To tell the world who we were, what we felt, what we did." 

His use of the past tense sent a chill down her spine. She wondered if something had happened to prompt this bout of pessimism. 

He knew she couldn't say no, no matter how it terrified her to write again. 

"You don't have to show it to anybody. Just leave it as a legacy when we're gone." 

"Okay." She said finally. "I'll try." 

Satisfied with her promise, he left, presumably to brief Mazan on whatever he'd learned out there. 

She closed the tiny book and fingered the handcrafted longstitch binding. A daunting task indeed. 


	4. Veya, Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notice new trigger warning tags.

Phaser blasts screamed over their heads as Veya and Turin dove for cover behind a tall, stone fountain, but they only paused for a couple of breaths before darting out into the expansive grounds of the Cardassian military base in Azea. 

There was no cover ahead, but they couldn't stop, the Cardassians were right on top of them, so they ran, hoping, praying to dodge the blasts that pelted their heels. 

The intel had been too good to be true, she could see that now. A tempting assassination target, a convenient lapse in security and the code to get in. They should have seen right through it. The moment they were inside, they'd lost contact with the rest of the cell. She could only guess that the others were fleeing just like them at that exact moment. She hoped, at least. 

Either their informant had been fed false information or he'd been turned. But that was a question to answer only if they made it out of this. 

She stopped firing behind her just long enough to check her power cell. It was almost depleted and a quick glance at Turin's didn't raise her optimism. 

They neared the edge of the grounds. Getting past the perimeter was a problem she hadn't had time to think about yet. 

Up ahead was an unscalable fence. To the right was a steep bluff with a wide canal at the bottom. Just as she began to consider their options, weapons fire erupted from the left. The Cardassians had flanked them. They were trapped. 

She staggered and ducked away from the new attackers, but the move cost her. A hard object, a Cardassian body, collided with her from behind, knocking her to the ground and pinning her down as she fought uselessly. 

Moments later she heard Turin also knocked to the ground somewhere to her right. 

Despite her desperate fight, her arms were jerked behind her back and cuffed. She could see Turin not far away in the same position. A flood of soldiers surrounded them with their weapons trained on the rebels. 

Still pinned down with a knee in her back and face pressed against the ground, she watched them overpower Turin through the blades of grass and delicate purple flowers that were only visible from this vantage point. A surreal contrast of beauty and violence. 

In moments, the spell was broken as she was yanked upright to her knees with the soldier that had tackled her still clutching her arm tightly. Turin was similarly pulled to his knees. 

In the momentary silence, her ears still ringing from the deafening sound of weapons fire only moments ago, the Cardassian commander's comm erupted with a status update. 

_"Insurgent group has gone into the forest. Team three in pursui-"_

The Cardassian slapped the comm to silence it, not wanting Veya and Turin to hear that their friends had escaped. And if they had made it as far as the forest, she was confident they would get away. 

As for them, the fact that they'd been captured alive was nothing less than terrifying. They would be tortured until they gave away information on their friends. Even worse, if they broke them, they could be brainwashed and forced to work against them. Veya swallowed hard at that thought, but Turin, even on his knees, his very posture conveyed defiance. 

"You might as well kill us now. Your limp-dicked torture methods won't get you anything." He mocked at them, a stark contrast to his normally gentle manner. 

The Cardassian in charge regarded him with all the arrogance of someone who had executed a successful trap. "They always say the same thing, but they all beg to betray their cohorts by the end. Especially the younger ones." He turned his attention to her and her body flushed cold. 

Turin was on his feet instantly. "You touch her, I will gut you like a vole!" He hissed, aggression poured from his posture. 

The Cardassian's expression went vicious and he turned, raising his weapon at Turin's chest. 

Turin didn't back down, didn't even flinch. Until the Cardassian pressed the firing key and shot a bolt of energy into his chest. Turin's expression turned to stunned shock in the microseconds that froze in time while Veya's mind struggled to understand. 

Still dazed he began to collapse backward toward the bluff. She watched wide-eyed, breathless, uncomprehending, as he took a step back to catch himself. Then another. Too far and he fell back over the edge. 

Veya screamed his name without hearing her own voice as she jerked herself free of the soldier's grasp and threw herself toward the dropoff. "No!" She screamed again. 

She saw him hit the water and disappear beneath the churning surface. 

"No! No, no!" She wailed after him, unable to accept what she'd seen. 

Hands grasped her from behind and pulled her back from the edge. The last thing she saw was a blossom of red-stained water where he'd gone under. 

_No, no!_ She mouthed mutely. This was wrong. This couldn't be happening. 

She could barely put up a token struggle, the fight had wholly bled from her. Two soldiers held her in place, she slouched in their grasp, sobbing under the heavy emptiness suddenly inside her. She searched uselessly for a way to bring him back, to undo what had just happened. He couldn't be gone. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't, but the knowledge of that reality ripped at her heart. 

Somewhere outside the realm of her shock and grief, she heard the Cardassian commander ordering his men, "Keep her in your barracks for the night. She can go to Interrogation in the morning after you've softened her up." 

Numb and hollow she allowed herself to be guided back toward the base. 

*** *** *** 

Veya shifted carefully, her hands kept going numb, cuffed over her head to the post of a bunk after they had finished with her. Everything hurt. She didn't dare sleep for fear that one of them would wake and decide to take another turn with her. She slouched there on the floor against the corner of the bed, so tired she couldn't think of anything but the pain. 

And Turin. 

Those moments replayed endlessly in her mind, desperate to remember something that would give her hope that there was even a chance that he could have survived. 

He was standing there, then in the blink of an eye, he was shot, he fell back. She tried to get to him, but he was already gone by the time his body splashed down in the water. 

Then he was standing there again. 

Again and again, he was killed in her mind. 

She opened her eyes to stop it, only to see the hell she was in, rows of sleeping Cardassians that had raped her for hours. Then she closed her eyes to block it out and saw Turin again, falling. Falling forever in her mind. 

Anything they did to her that night paled in comparison to losing him. She couldn't even comprehend what that meant, losing him, not with the wound so fresh. Not with his body left behind to be carried away by the current. 

She wanted to cling to some shred of hope. But that was a foolish fantasy, a childish fairy tale. 

There were no tears. Only a numbing emptiness where her cherished friend used to be. Nothing mattered to her any more. Not her battered and abused body, not her near-certain death at the hands of the enemy who had murdered every family she'd ever had. 

Never again would she hesitate to kill one of them. Never again would she feel remorse or question whether it was right. Turin had once said that the hate would eat her up inside, but she no longer cared, she would no longer hold part of herself back from the hate. She would hate them with every piece of her being, with her every breath and every thought. 

She would do nothing but hate. _Be_ nothing but hate. 

Her thoughts reached past the Cardassians to whoever had betrayed them. Someone had led them into a trap. Someone they trusted was working with the Cardassians. And that someone was responsible for Turin's death. Hate blossomed anew within her filling the void that he left behind. 

The sky began to brighten as dawn arrived. This hellish night was nearly over, but a new and horrifying hell awaited her. How long until she broke? How long could she keep their secrets? How much could she endure before she herself became the hated betrayer? 

The Cardassians woke one by one and she tensed, unsure what would happen next. They began to dress, mostly ignoring her as if she was nothing. She kept her eyes downcast, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing the fear she was certain was in her eyes. 

One of them stepped close and released the restraints from the bedpost and re-cuffed her wrists in front of her. Her muscles had seized up in that position and she could hardly bear to lower her arms. But he didn't give her much time to adjust before roughly lifting her to stand unsteadily on weak legs. 

He guided her stumblingly to one side of the room to wait for his colleagues where he let go of her, but she felt his phaser pressed against her ribs. 

The phaser was _right there_. 

And he was the only one paying any attention her. 

Better to die then than to become the betrayer. 

If she could move fast enough... 

In the space of an exhale, she made her decision. 

She reached back and grabbed the phaser with both hands over his and pulled it away from herself while shoving him back against the wall with her body. She raked her fingers across the firing key as they struggled for the weapon, sending staccato phaser blasts wildly across the room. An alarm sounded, detecting the weapons fire. The other Cardassians dove for cover, but she thought some of them might have been hit. 

When he began to regain control of the weapon, she raised her leg and heel-kicked behind her as hard as she could right into his most sensitive area. 

His strength diminished enough for her to wrench the weapon out of his hand. Still holding it with both hands because of the restraints, she quickly picked off the other Cardassians scrambling to respond. 

The moment she had dispatched the others, she turned to the one behind her, stood over his stooped form and fired point blank into his chest and he slouched awkwardly into the corner. 

In the momentary stillness, alarm still blaring, she thought about turning the phaser upon herself. Better to prevent herself from being interrogated than to risk recapture. But then she thought about the others. They still didn't know who it was that had sold them out. She had made it this far alive... 

She had to decide quickly, the sound of heavy boots rang through the corridor. She glanced overhead, there was a ventilation duct, if she could just get to it in time. 

Fighting panic, she shot the door controls, hoping to slow them down as she climbed awkwardly onto the bunk directly below the vent opening. She tucked the phaser into the front of her waistband and gripped the metal grate, pushing with her shoulder. With a metal-on-metal sound, it slid just far enough to pull herself up. 

Once inside, she dragged the grate back into place with what little strength she had left and rolled onto her back in the cramped space just as the door was forced open below. 

She ignored the alarmed voices below, concentrating on keeping her breathing slow and quiet, hoping desperately that the walls of the duct would confuse their sensors, which she began to hear immediately. Even if they didn't detect her biosigns, if they thought to look up there for her, she'd have no way out. She silently gripped the handle of the phaser again, body shaking fiercely, ready to end it if they found her. 

The claxon stopped abruptly, leaving little noise to cover the sound of her breathing. 

_Move._

She had to move. If she didn't, it was only a matter of time before they found her, but her body seemed unwilling to do so. The slightest sound could alert them to her whereabouts. 

Achingly slow at first, she pushed with her feet to slide on her back away from the opening of the vent. Picking up and setting down her feet without a single sound, she slid backward toward a small louvered door that separated the crawlway from the next room over. 

A quick glance told her that it was locked. Slowly, precisely, she rolled over onto her stomach, careful not to tap the cuffs against any hard surface. She wrapped her bruised fingers around the edges of the release panel and pulled. It didn't budge. She pulled again, holding her breath against the strain, but it still didn't move. 

Panic began to assert itself again, she'd be trapped in here with no way out. She'd be an easy target. Stunned, then taken to interrogation without any way to fight back. She kept herself ready to grab her phaser at any moment. 

She tried one more time. The edges of the metal panel bit into her already sore fingertips as she used every bit of her strength. It finally gave way with a jerk and she nearly dropped it. Instead, she gripped it tightly in her hands, holding her breath as she listened for any indication they'd heard the small snap of release. 

When the back and forth of dialog between the two Cardassians continued below, she set the panel down silently. Being an inner door, she hoped the security wouldn't be high. She threaded her hands awkwardly into the mechanism to follow the practiced procedure, relieved to be doing something familiar. 

Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely manipulate the tiny circuitry and she wanted to get it done faster, but she knew she had to take her time or risk tripping a warning that would signal her location. Steadily she worked to cross circuit the mechanism, bypassing both the lock and the machinery that would normally open and close it. After a few false attempts, the isolinear circuitry went dark and a crack opened up between the two small doors. 

Veya worked her fingers into the crack and pried the doors open enough to slide through, then pulled them closed as much as she could manage. At least they would provide a little bit of cover. 

She carefully peered through the grate into the next room to find it empty. The soldiers there must have hurried to their posts at the sound of the alarm. 

Quickly thinking through her options, she could stay in the duct where she'd be out of sight but trapped if they did find her. Or she could drop down into the empty room and go out into the corridor where she'd be more easily spotted, but also have a better chance to get away if she was. She hesitated, unable to make a decision. She usually relied on Turin's experience on things like this, but she was on her own now, she thought with a pang in her stomach. 

A scraping sound behind her told her the decision had been made for her. Through the crack in the door, she could see gray fingers reaching up through the grate to lift it up. 

She took aim with her phaser through the narrow gap. Would it set the alarm off again? She didn't know. 

Her hands were shaking so hard she wasn't sure if she would hit anything. In the strained moments before the enemy appeared, she breathed out to steady herself. 

The top of his head came into view and she fired, straight and steady, striking him exactly in the spoon on his forehead. As his body fell limp back where he came from, she hurriedly lifted up the grate before her and dropped down into the adjacent room. 

She wouldn't have much time before they found her in there, so she bolted for the door. It slid open at her approach and she peeked hastily into the empty corridor. 

Just as she stepped through the door, she heard the door to the first room open. She whipped around and shot the Cardassian coming through with his weapon already drawn. 

The alarm blared again. That direction was a dead end, so she hurried in the other direction insure where in the facility she was or was going. 

Running footsteps, a lot of them, reached her from up ahead around the corner. Hesitating, she tried one door but it didn't open. Then another door and another one. All locked. 

There was nowhere that was safe and the approaching soldiers had to be almost there. Just before the intersection, there was a tiny space where the truss of the juncture jutted out from the wall. She pressed herself into it, thankful that she was as small as she was. Even so, she barely fit. 

She held her breath as the soldiers rounded the corner a split second later and she fought the urge to close her eyes at the sight of six Cardassians passing by in full view of her if they only turned around. But they didn't, they went on to the source of the trouble, the location the computer had detected weapons fire. 

Not waiting for them to think to check behind them, she slipped around the corner where they'd come from and quietly hurried in the new direction. 

Most of the doors were locked here too, but she finally found one that opened up to a utility closet. That would have to do for now, until she could regroup her thoughts. 

As they expanded their search, they would no doubt check this room. She looked around for anything that might throw off their sensors when they did. She found a heating unit and powered it on, then opened it up to dig into its circuitry. If the focusing coils were to be miscalibrated, she knew that would jack up the EM interference and might trick their sensors if they weren't scanning carefully enough. 

With the work completed, she tossed a cleaning rag over the unit so it wouldn't draw attention in the darkness and sunk down behind a washbasin. 

Barely had she begun to calm her racing heart when the door slid open and she tensed. Would her improvised sensor jammer work? She heard him take a few steps into the room along with the telltale sound of a scanner. He passed it once across the room and stepped back out. 

She didn't breathe again until the door closed behind him and she let out a shaking breath. 

In the near-darkness she glanced at the manacles still wrapped around her bruised wrists. They were so painful every time she tried to move beyond a limited range, but she had no idea how to unlock them, so she had to leave them for the moment. 

One thing she desperately needed was to know where she was. She carefully pushed herself up off the floor, her body still ached with every movement, more than before, even. In her first, hurried search of the room, she'd seen a computer console in the corner. She doubted it had much access, but it might just have a map. 

The console was unsecured, supporting her assumption that there wouldn't be anything of value accessible there. Her hands were trembling so hard because of the buildup of unused adrenaline surging through her body that even just making her way through the simple interface was difficult. But she finally found what she was looking for. 

The schematic showed the main complex was a network of smaller buildings all interconnected because the Cardassians didn't like to go outside in the winter. Her location was indicated near the wing that was labeled as 'barracks'. From there, she would need to get to the central operations hub. If she could find an empty office there, she could try accessing the base's records core. She'd never actually done that before, but had watched Cazki do it once. 

Before she could even try, though, she had to get out of this room. She looked around again for inspiration. 

Her eyes fell on the wooden handle to a waste extraction siphon and she quickly detached it and tested the handle's heft. It would make an adequate weapon that would not alert them to her location, but not up against more than one attacker. For that, she turned back to the computer. 

This console didn't have access to set off alarms or open any doors. There were, however, garbage shoots that could be opened and those hatches were alarmed. Open one of those, and they might think she was trying to escape through it. 

To be honest, she wished she could. But she had a plan. Part of a plan. Sort-of. 

She took one last moment in the brief calm she'd found herself in and pressed the key to open a waste hatch at the far end of the barracks wing. The commotion outside was subdued, but instant and urgent. She pressed her ear to the door to listen. Short, clipped commands that she couldn't make out, multiple sets of footsteps moving in that direction. Then it was quiet. 

She couldn't assume they'd all gone, there had to be at least one left behind. She snugged herself into the dark space next to the door and opened it without going out. 

Soon, a shadow passed across the open doorway. She straightened and gripped the improvised weapon with both hands. The moment his face was visible, she swung. 

The handle connected with his face, crushing the bones in his cheek and nose, instantly spurting blood back towards her. The wood split and broke, she was left with only a hand's length of it in her hand while the other bounced and rolled away. 

The Cardassian staggered back, but remained on his feet, so she jabbed forward with the splintered shards of her weapon, sinking them into his neck. The blood-wet handle slipped out of her hand as he fell away from her and she didn't bother waiting to see the result. Instead, she ran at a full sprint in the direction that would take her to the central operations hub, barely slowing down at each intersection to check for incoming. 

Finally able to act, her body was no longer shaking. She ran harder and farther than she ever had, stopping only to allow Cardassians to pass by without spotting her. 

*** *** *** As she moved into the operations hub, away from where they were undoubtably still searching for her, there were fewer soldiers and more civilians. And not very many, at that. It was still early in the morning. 

In the empty corridor, she knelt down before one of the office doors and worked to override the lock. It was sophisticated enough, and her proficiency limited enough that it took her longer than it would have any of her experienced colleagues, but by the time she began to hear the faint sounds of a conversation filtering down the hallway, the lock finally gave in and allowed her inside. 

She quickly closed and locked the door behind her. Her skin prickled at the sound of voices outside that had almost caught her there, but breathed a sigh when they passed. 

Glancing around the office, she spotted a replicator. Her stomach twisted; she hadn't eaten since before the raid began. She didn't have time to eat, but with a few keystrokes, she replicated a protein bar that she grabbed and shoved in her pocket, it could be many, many more hours before she had another opportunity. 

That done, she used her thumbnails to pry up the base panel of the replicator enclosure and began searching for a power conduit. Maybe she could overload the circuitry in the restraints and they'd release. Or maybe that would cause them to fuse she'd have to have someone cut them off. Looking at her purple, bruised wrists, it was worth the risk. 

She yanked the conduit out of its port and held it carefully. Leaning back to keep her face as far away as possible, she touched the glowing end of the conduit to the middle part of the restraints. She felt a momentary but powerful surge of electricity seize her hands but it was gone before she even knew she felt it and the replicator went black. 

_Thank the Prophets for safety shutoffs_ , she thought, already beginning to inspect the cuffs. She gently tested them and, to her relief, one side released, then the other. She stuffed them into her back pocket in case she needed a weapon again later. 

She came around the desk to the computer and tried a technique she thought she'd learned from Cazki, only to be denied access. She tried a second time, searching her memory and managed to recall a step she'd neglected. But it still denied her access. 

If she failed a third time, the Cardassians would be alerted, but it turned out she wouldn't have the chance to try again. Someone was unlocking the door from the other side. 

She ducked down behind the desk and readied her phaser, waiting silently. Had she tripped some kind of alarm? Were they expanding their search to the offices in this section? 

When the door opened, she didn't hear a scanner, only a lazy and slightly off-tune whistling. The newcomer moved leisurely around the fore of the room. It had to be owner of the office. By the sound of the movements and the rustle of fabric rather than the creak of armor, she guessed he was a civilian. 

She bolstered her courage, stood up into view and turned, training her weapon at his back. "Hold it right there." 

She could see the moment he jumped, startled, then realized what was happening. He raised his empty hands timidly. "Please, I don't want any trouble." 

"You won't have any if you do exactly as I say." She stepped closer to him and grabbed the fabric at the back of his collar, wadding it tight in her hand. She pulled him backwards toward the desk and guided him to sit down. "Log in." 

He complied, though his hands were shaking so bad she was afraid he would cause the third failed attempt that she'd been afraid of, but he managed to input his credentials and the interface opened up. 

"Open the file system. Show me everything from the last two months." She said, leaning in close, unsure what exactly she was looking for. Something that would give them a clue as to who had sold them out. "There, stop, 'Duty Logs'. Copy that onto a rod." 

He hesitated. "Those won't do you any good, they're encrypted and I don't have the security clearance to open them." 

She twisted the fabric in her hand so that it pulled tight against his neck ridges, causing him to hiss in pain. "Did I _say_ to open them?" 

"S-sorry." He stammered, reaching for the handle of a drawer. "I have empty rods in here." 

"Slowly." She warned, keeping her voice steady and her grip strong despite her racing heart. 

The drawer was mostly empty except for a half-eaten candy bar and a row of isolinear rods. He took one and proceeded to copy the files. Veya turned back to the directory, looking through the list that was visible. "Keep scrolling." She said when copying was finished. "'Comm Logs'. Copy that one too." 

He did as told. "What are you going to do with them?" 

"Maybe I just want a souvenir of my time here. Keep scrolling." 

She had him copy directories labeled 'Assets' and 'Travel Logs' as well. She wasn't sure if they would be able to decrypt the files, but there may be something somewhere in all of this that would give them a clue. 

His usefulness expired, she prepared to discharge her phaser directly into the back of his head. Past his cowering form sat a framed photo of him with a woman and child. Where once she'd have felt some shred of compassion, she now felt nothing as she coldly prepared to kill him. 

But she hesitated for an instant, she couldn't fire the phaser without the sensors picking it up. So instead, she reached back for the restraints in her pocket. With the metal band wrapped around her fist, she struck him quickly in the back of his head and he slumped onto the desk. Her hand came away bloody and it was possible she could have done permanent damage. She hoped so. 

The moment the copying process was complete, she snatched the rod out of the port and tucked it deep inside her shoe. The rods were nearly indestructible, so she didn't have to worry about breaking it. It would be uncomfortable, but it would be the least of her pain today, she could live with it. 

Having reached the end of her current plan, she wasn't sure what to do next. As opposed to her initial, hectic, one step at a time, strategy-less methods, getting out of this place would take better planning. 

Who were the only Bajorans that might be allowed to leave the building unescorted? She thought. Comfort women, probably, but she looked down at herself. She doubted even with a change of clothes, she'd be able to pull it off with the condition she was in. Other types of collaborators would be difficult to impersonate for the same reason. 

Then there were the cleaners. While they were planning the raid, she'd seen on the schedule that there would be a shift change in the cleaning crew soon. If she could get her hands on a uniform, maybe she could get lost among them. While any of that intel could have been fake, a good way to hide a lie was to bundle it with truth. There was a good chance information that was not involved with the sting would be accurate. 

She began to pace the room then stopped and leaned over the unconscious form of the clerk to pull up a maintenance supply inventory and scrolled through the Cardassian characters to the word 'custodial staff uniforms' with a set of numbers next to it indicating the room, isle and even the exact bay where they were located. The room, however was on the other side of the hub from her current location. 

She needed the disguise in order to blend in and move freely through the compound, but she needed to get to the other side of the compound in order to get the disguise. She dug her fingers into her hair with a frustrated sigh. By the sounds reaching her from the other side of the door, there were a lot more people out there than there had been just a few minutes ago. 

She stood in the center of the room, unsure what to do. The soldiers could start searching this part of the compound any minute. If she was still there when that happened, she could be forced back into the ducts again. She couldn't allow herself to be recaptured and she needed to get the data rod to her cell, but she couldn't think of a way even out of this room. She froze in place, unable to make a decision. Shallow, shaking breaths paralyzing her thoughts, keeping her from being able to focus on the problem. All she could think about was what would happen when they broke in and found here there. Vulnerable and alone. 

_Prophets!_ She needed Turin. 

She couldn't allow herself to break down. If she did, the terrible things she feared would happen for sure. Her only chance was to keep moving. She had to make a decision even if it turned out to be the wrong one. It was her only chance. 

Forcing herself to breathe deeper and more slowly, she looked around the room. Everything there were innocuous office things. Nothing she could use as a weapon or distraction. Her eyes fell onto the clerk's jacket and the glimmer of a plan began to form. 

Doubting the plan would work, she grasped onto it anyway. Moving into the washroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and her heart sank at the evidence of last night's horror on her own face. On one side, she had a crescent-shaped bruise from her cheekbone to her eyebrow. Her nose and lip were smeared with dried blood. Her face was dirty and tear-streaked. There was dried blood at the edge of her scalp, too. She splashed water onto her face to clean up as best as possible and used her wet hands to pat down her messy hair. 

Checking her reflection again, it was passible as long as she wasn't under too much scrutiny. 

She stepped over to the desk, opened the drawer and took an empty rod out. Dropping it into her left shirt pocket, she went to the coatrack and snatched up the coat. It was far too big for her and stunk of Cardassian musk, but she pulled it on anyway. 

Pressing her ear to the door, she listened to the rise and fall of activity outside. Groups passed by in active conversation. Individuals walked silently with only their footfall to signal their presence. She prepared to open the door and step out the moment it was clear, hesitating twice when she could have done so. The longer she waited, the greater the chance of recapture. 

The next time there was a stretch of silence, she pressed the button before she could back out and she stepped into the empty corridor. She hurried in the direction she needed to go, but didn't get far before beginning to hear someone coming. Thank the Prophets it sounded like a single person. Thoroughly unsure if she was about to seal her fate, she pressed herself against the wall and slunk down to sit with her knees pulled to her chest. She dropped her head and tucked one arm around it and imitated the sound of sobbing. Her other hand remained tucked in her lap, gripping her phaser. 

The coming footsteps slowed to a stop nearby, but not near enough. 

The newcomer hesitated, took a few more steps, but still didn't come close enough. 

"What are you doing here?" A male voice said. 

She didn't look up, didn't respond, she needed him to come closer. 

The man's feet shuffled as though he was looking around, deciding what to do. Finally, he closed the space between them and knelt down. Heart pounding wildly, Veya dropped the ploy and instantly pressed the phaser to the Cardassian's neck, looking directly into his eyes so there was no question she would do it. 

"Stand up slowly." She commanded and he obeyed as she stood with him. Straightening up, she shifted the phaser to his side. "Do exactly as I say. If you do anything to make the others suspicious, I will kill you immediately. Do you understand?" 

"Yes." He breathed, tension visible throughout his posture. 

"Put your arm around my shoulder." She resisted the shudder that passed through her whole body when he did so. Fought to push away the reminder of that night and against the upsurge in her stomach at the sickeningly intimate touch and she adjusted the phaser so it would be invisible to anyone else. 

"I won't do anything to harm anyone." He insisted bravely. 

"I'm not asking you to. I just need to get from here to the storage room in section seven. If you help me do that, you'll live." That last part was probably a lie. "Get moving." 

They made it part way down the corridor when a group of Cardassian civilians rounded the corner. 

"Stay calm." She whispered quietly. "You took me home last night as a comfort woman and you're just returning me." For added incentive, she dug the phaser deeper into his ribs. 

He did well, though, walking tall and holding her possessively around the shoulders. The group barely glanced in their direction as they passed. 

"Good job." She said when they were far enough away. "You might just make it through this." She was definitely lying that time. 

*** *** *** 

They went by a number of other groups and individuals on their way. The groups usually didn't look too closely, it was the individuals that she was most worried about. Luckily none of them stopped them. Then on the last stretch before they arrived at the storage room, a lone Cardassian approached them staring down at his padd. His face brightened with recognition when he looked up at her hostage, then slid into a knowing leer. 

Veya pressed the phaser harder into her hostage's chest as a subtle reminder. Using it would mean her death, and she desperately hoped he didn't call her bluff. 

"She must have cost a few lecs." The approaching Cardassian said. 

"A few." He said jovially. "She was worth it, though. Helluva night." 

She kept her eyes downcast as an expected show of submission, though she was grateful for the excuse to hide the loathing she couldn't keep off her face. 

"Where are you going? Don't they live down that way?" The newcomer asked, pointing casually in the other direction with his padd. 

"Ah, yeah, we have to stop by the medic first." He gestured to the bruise on her face. "Have to return her in proper condition." 

"Right, well, I'll see you later, then." 

She couldn't help but be impressed despite her visceral reaction, he was a good improviser. The other Cardassian ambled on his way none the wiser. 

She slowed their pace so that they would arrive at the storage room door just as the other one was out of sight. "In here." 

He obediently entered his code and the door slid away before anyone else could happen by. 

The moment they were inside, she shoved him away from herself and shook off the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Keeping the weapon trained on him, she searched a few supply drawers until she found a bundle of cable ties. 

"You call for help or make any attempt at escape and I will kill you." She said as she forced him to his knees and bound his wrists to a storage rack. 

"Whatever reason you're here, if you're planning to kill people, I'd rather die than let you continue." 

"Aww, how noble." She mocked, searching through the rows, then narrowing in on the item she was looking for. 

"There are better ways to get what you want." He called to her. 

She rolled her eyes at that, "Relax. I just want to get out of here." She located a stack of drab maintenance uniforms and sorted through for one that would fit her, settling on the smallest size she could find. 

"How old are you?" 

She sighed heavily at his obvious tactic. "Sixteen." She answered, pulling the jumpsuit over the clothes she had on. As long as he thought he could talk his way out, he wasn't thinking about making trouble for her. 

When she had the jumpsuit up over her hips and fastened enough to stay up, she started looking through the shelves and bins around her for something useful while taking a bite of the protein bar she'd replicated. They were probably checking the exits by now, requiring thumbscans from each person leaving, she expected. She would need a distraction. 

"And you've already killed before?" 

"More times than I can say." She said, still looking for anything she could use. "Are you ready to be the next?" She snapped, getting tired of his hypocritical sympathy. After what she'd just experienced at the hands of his colleagues, the fact that he'd just passed her off as a sex object, Turin's ruthless murder, he had the nerve to question her right to fight back? She considered educating him on the subject, but he wasn't worth it. She didn't owe him anything but a phaser blast to the head. 

Eventually, she'd moved into a section containing engineering tools and pulled a bin out to check its contents: power cells for ODN recouplers. That was probably something she could work with. Reaching in to grab one, she saw out of the corner of her eye, the Cardassian lean into view. She pointed her phaser in his general direction and called, "I hope you're minding your own business over there." 

He didn't respond, but she heard him move back where he was. Next, she found another stack of tools of which she didn't know the purpose, but she was able to break one open and pull out some wiring, then snagged a few other components from various tools. 

She couldn't allow him to watch her build a bomb, even a small one. His usefulness to her had ended anyway. She still had to avoid using the phaser, though. And without the phaser, killing him would be messy or time consuming. Neither of which were particularly appealing to her in that moment. She looked around for something blunt, settling on an empty tool case. 

She walked up to him, phaser in one hand, tool case in the other. "I was looking forward to killing another Spoonhead-" 

"You don't have to." He said, panic edging into his voice. "I can help you find a way out of this without more violence." 

She ignored his plea, "...but if I fire this phaser, alarms will go off and they'll be able to pinpoint my location." 

The realization that she couldn't have shot him all that time dropped onto his face and she enjoyed that satisfaction before she continued. "I can't just leave you here, either." She set the phaser on the shelf and passed the case to her dominant hand. She swung it down and it landed on his face with the satisfying sound of broken bones and he went limp, hanging by his wrists. 

She went back to her pile of bomb-making supplies and brought them to a computer console to lay them out. It wouldn't an explosion as much as an electrical discharge, but it would do. She quickly assembled the components. The power cell, a few wires to create a short, a trigger device and an uplink. Lastly, she slid the isolinear rod from her pocket into a port and wrote a single line of code using the uplink's serial number that would trigger the whole thing the next time the rod was inserted to a console. 

She slid the jumpsuit onto her shoulders and fastened it, stashing the device in the tool case. Where she would place the contraption and where she would find a console to set it off, she left up to the Prophets to provide. 

Without much time left to get to the service exit, she reached for the phaser, but hesitated. It would be almost impossible to hide it on her. She began to turn away, but couldn't quite make herself leave her only weapon behind. She needed it, reaching for it again, but stopped herself. A tool case could be explained away, a phaser could not. 

With her hand hovering just over the phaser's grip, she braced herself against the consuming fear of leaving that room without it. It was more dangerous to her than it would be helpful. She forced herself to turn her back on it and went back into the corridor, fiercely hoping that she looked like any of the rest of the base's Bajoran workforce. 

*** *** *** 

Head down in deference, keeping to the edges of the corridor and out of the way of any Cardassians she encountered, she hurried as fast as she dared to the exit, finally slipping into a line of her kinsmen, all wearing the same jumpsuit, shuffling toward the outside. 

At the doorway one bored Cardassian searched each Bajoran before allowing them to leave while another one stood guard with a phaser rifle at the ready. 

Up ahead, a soldier was making his way down the line taking thumbscans like she'd expected. 

As quickly as she dared without drawing attention, she moved back behind those who had joined the line after her until she could slip around a corner. There, as close to the others as she could risk, she held the case behind her back. When she was sure no one was watching, she knelt down and placed the case with the device in the crook of the corridor truss and prayed that neither her luck nor the Prophets' patience with her would run out just yet. 

Slipping back in line, she earned an annoyed look from the person she cut in front of, but he seemed too exhausted to make a fuss about it. The line moved slowly forward as each thumbscanned Bajoran was patted down for contraband before being allowed to leave. She decided it had been a good idea to leave the phaser behind. 

There was a small maintenance hatch up ahead, no larger than a few data ports, she just hoped she could get to it before the Cardassian with the scanner reached her. There were two people between her and the hatch and only three between her and the Cardassian. Then they moved forward one person and she risked reaching past the person in front of her to open the hatch and slid the isolinear rod into an empty port. The computer would automatically run the small executable, the question was whether she'd done it all right. There were many possible points of failure and had been no time to test it. 

The computer made a small affirmative sound as it ran the program. Bolts of electricity instantly arced out from the area where she'd left the device along with a fierce electrical sound and the overhead lights winked out. 

The group of Bajorans surged forward in fright. 

This was her chance. In the momentary chaos, Veya shifted forward in line, skipping up past three people, past the scanner. 

The Cardassians were immediately in action, stopping the crowd from flooding out the exit. 

Someone in charge ordered them to get the workers outside, away from the scene and the Cardassian at the front of the line sped up his pace, giving each one a quick pat down. But they weren't allowing them to leave, they gathered them in a group outside. 

She guessed they'd re-scan everyone out there. All she'd accomplished was to move her inevitable capture outside rather than inside. _One step forward_ , she told herself. It was still one step closer to escape. That was all she had in that moment. 

Quickly, it was her turn to be searched. She obediently held out her arms, keeping her eyes downcast while the Cardassian checked her sides, front and back. The rod with the potentially valuable information dug painfully into the arch of her foot, but at least it was a reminder why she had to make it out. 

Without checking her shoes, he allowed her to pass and the Cardassian with the phaser rifle eyed her as she joined the group outside. The sun was out that morning, and low enough in the sky to make it difficult to see in the direction of the gate. Squinting, she checked her options. The outer gate had closed a moment ago. On the other side, she knew, was a footpath through the forest to the town nearby. The slats in the gate were vertical, no way to climb it. The wall on either side of the gate had curls of razor wire along the top. 

Any other direction was pure suicide, one leading deeper into the property, the other back where she and Turin had been caught half a day ago. Her heart squeezed at the fresh wound, but she pushed it aside. She'd have to make a run for it, and that would mean she'd have to watch for an opportunity. She couldn't be distracted by ghosts, no matter how recent. 

The Cardassian guarding them turned to watch as another worker was released from the building to join the group. She had to go. Now. 

She broke into a full sprint, feet sliding slightly on the gravel as she accelerated. She heard someone command her to stop, but she ran full speed toward the wall. Phaser blasts screamed past her, but he was firing blind into the rising sun. Cardassians were sensitive to bright light, he couldn't see her, but she heard him running toward her. 

She reached the stacked stone wall, which was much taller than she was. There were few handholds, and she didn't have much time before the Cardassian would reach her. She grasped the stones and pulled, scrambling with her feet. The razor wire at the top sliced her palms as she dragged herself up. A hand reached up below and narrowly missed grabbing her ankle. She frantically threw herself over and tumbled over the wall and fell on the edge of a metal waste container. 

She laid on the ground for a breath, her back hurt where she'd hit, unsure if she was injured. 

"Move!" She told herself out loud. She had to get moving. 

Through the pain, she pushed herself up and dashed toward the trees as the gate began to open. 

More phaser blasts hit the trees on either side of her, burning them, splitting the small ones. She pushed forward, breaking through the underbrush and vaulting over fallen logs. Loose stones and soft leaf litter threatened to send her tumbling, but she managed to keep her footing. 

With the crush of her pursuers coming closer, she stopped behind a tree that was larger than three people could reach around and gulped for air. 

They spread out, searching for her, not yet picking her up on their scanners, but they would soon. 

She took a moment when they were looking another direction and ran for a denser part of the forest, keeping her head below the underbrush. Shuffling down a hill, someone grabbed her from the side, holding her tight, hand clasped over her mouth. She started to fight back. 

"Shh, it's me, it's me!" Cazki whispered in her ear, not letting up on his grip. 

Her body was tense with the overwhelming need to fight back, but she nodded and forced her muscles to relax. 

When she did, he let her go and they dropped behind a mossy boulder that jutted out of the hill. 

Wordlessly, he handed her a phaser, and she gratefully held it ready against her chest. 

The Cardassians were too close, she couldn't risk asking him why he was there. Could only assume they'd been hoping for her and Turin to show. Unless, of course, they already knew what had happened to him. 

A Cardassian walked slowly along the crest of the hill, within sight of them if he'd been able to see better in the bright sun that still streamed sideways through the trees. She breathed silently even while her heart raced, not moving, not shifting. 

Finally, he moved on. 

She chanced a glance over at Cazki and relief washed over her as he confidently nodded his head in the direction he wanted them to go. 

*** *** *** 

Veya sat on the soggy, mossy porch of The Inn for hours that seemed like days staring into the misty green distance. 

She sat alone. The others kept their distance. They knew how much he'd meant to her. 

She tried writing in her notebook but the words wouldn't come. She stared at the blank pages, then out at the forest and back to the blank pages again. There were no words. Nothing that could express the ache and emptiness inside her. So, she just stared. Hollow. Alone. 

She'd finally managed to write one single line, but then couldn't bring herself to read it over. It stung so much that she covered it with her hand. She couldn't bear to even look at the words again. He was gone. And there was no going back, no fixing it, no way to change what had happened. Just gone. 

Tears stung her eyes yet again. 

Vaguely she heard someone approaching from behind, then felt a hand rest heavy on her shoulder. 

"I'm so sorry. Turin was a good man." Mazan said gently. 

Her throat squeezed tight. She could hardly breathe. 

After a weighty moment, he added, "We found them. Thanks to the files you brought back. I'm sending Airoh and Kopia to take care of it. You did well." Then, with a squeeze his hand slid from her shoulder and he left her alone again. 

A few seconds later she heard Airoh and Kopia leave quietly, somberly. She wasn't the only one grieving, but she couldn't quiet grasp that at the moment. 

The words she'd written burned as though the ink was acid under her palm. She summoned up the courage to lift her hand away, revealing the words she'd written. 

_Did you know you would be leaving me?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veya started out as a side character in a backstory I wrote for a side character in my main fanfic "Terrorists Don't Get to be Heroes" but I liked her so much, I needed to give her her own backstory. In fact, she wouldn't leave me alone until I did it! So the continuation of her story can be found as part of another story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11201241/chapters/25187439


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